


In Sickness and In Health

by nachocheese26



Series: The Gangsitter [1]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Rio is a good dad, Sick Fic, soft Rio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-09-05 20:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20279227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachocheese26/pseuds/nachocheese26
Summary: When Beth is late to a meeting, Rio is left upset, frustrated, and borderline angry. Meaning it's time for him to pay another surprise visit to her home and make sure she remembers what kind of business relationship they have. Except his visit turns into something that does not fit into his agenda.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Someone stop me...this is now three WIPs I've got...but I just had to write some kind of fluff because the other two fics are kind of depressing right now and I need something light!
> 
> So this is just going to be a completely fun piece. Nothing too serious, just some soft Rio, Boland kids, cutie pie Marcus, and a sick Beth! Hope you lovelies enjoy!

He waited for two hours. _Two hours_. No one keeps him waiting like that. He was a busy man. He had things that he needed to take care of. He could be late because he was king, but anyone else? Lack of respect _and_ a waste of his time.

He called her once and then messaged her once. It was all the warning she was going to get.

No answer. At all.

She hadn’t even read his message yet.

He crossed over the annoyed line ages ago. He thought they were finally past this.

Guess not.

He looked at the time on his phone. Shit, he was going to be late picking up Marcus from baseball practice because of this. Meaning he would have to give the coach a few extra bills for overtime. He didn’t plan on being more than fifteen minutes late though.

Rio let himself in through the mudroom, expecting to see her at her kitchen baking brownies or some other shit.

He wasn’t prepared for what was actually going on.

The smallest Boland kid was sitting in the middle of the floor, a cup half full of milk gripped between her feet. With both hands, she was trying to pour more milk into the cup. _Trying_ being the key word. A puddle of milk was growing around her as she either missed the cup or the liquid sloshed out.

One of the boys was running around, the blonde one, chasing the other girl. Both of them screaming, one out of terror the other out of delight. He had his hands stretched out, full of slime. The girl he was chasing already had slime stuck in her hair.

The oldest boy was sitting on the couch, halfway through a second bag of potato chips, occasionally tossing one to the waiting dog.

And that’s just what the kids were doing.

The house was a disaster. Dishes piled up in the sink. Mud dragged in on the floors. Toys scattered over almost every surface. A few splotches of slime were stuck to the walls.

Rio’s skin involuntarily crawled. He had never seen Beth’s house in this state. He fought off the urge to bring order to the chaos. He needed to find Beth first. Because if Beth Boland let her house become a disaster zone, something had to be very wrong.

He walked up to the girl sitting on the floor, deftly taking away the gallon of milk before she could spill more. Remembering a conversation with Marcus as he went on and on about a new friend he made at the park, Jane. Rio guessed this was the same kid. He squated down in front of her, just outside of the milk puddle. “Hey, little mama. Where’s your mom?”

She looked up, her eyes wide as she hadn’t heard him approach. But then they quickly crinkled as she smiled at him, recognizing him. “You're Mommy’s friend!”

Rio smiled back at her. “Yeah, you could say that. So where is she?”

“She’s in the bathroom.” Jane started patting the puddle around her, making small splashes.

Rio nodded, grabbed the cup from between her feet and finished pouring the rest of the milk. “Why don’t you drink this over there on the bar stool, yeah?”

She nodded, stepping all over the milk puddle. Rio swallowed back a grimace as he watched her track milk across the floor.

But this was not his concern. At least not yet.

He walked past the running children, waving at him as they recognized him, but not pausing in their chase to even question why he was there. He went to Beth’s room, carefully stepping over the toys and the mud and any other mess that was on the floor.

The door was wide open. And the first thing he noticed was the bed unmade. It was two in the afternoon. This was _not_ in character for Beth.

He opened the door to the bathroom carefully.

And there she was, lying on the floor, eyes half open and a damp rag pressed to her nose. He sniffed. It smelled like vomit and rubbing alcohol.

“Oh Elizabeth,” Rio mumbled as he bent down in front of her. “Have a bit too much last night?” He lightly teased. He brushed some hair out of her face. As he did, he could feel her forehead burning.

This was much more than a hangover.

“Rio?” It seemed like she was just registering his presence. She dropped the damp rag from her mouth. “Oh God, I thought I was late. M’here. What’s…uh…what were we going to…what?”

Rio frowned at her slurred words. “Nah, you’re two hours late actually. And you haven't even left your house.”

She rolled her head and Rio thought it might’ve been an attempt at shaking her head. “No. M’here. Made it.”

“You’re on your bathroom floor, Elizabeth.”

Beth laughed. She actually managed to laugh. “No m’not.”

Rio clicked his tongue and looked around the room. “Gotta disagree with you, mama. We are in your bathroom. Nice tub, by the way. Looks like the caulking is going to need to be replaced soon though.”

Beth opened her mouth to argue, but then her face scrunched up.

Rio quickly grabbed the trashcan and held it in front of her.

On instinct, she took the trashcan from him. Her body heaved as her stomach expelled its contents. Which at this point was mostly water. Rio moved behind her to hold back her hair.

Within a minute she was done, pushing the trash can upright. She grimaced as she attempted to sit up. But her arm started shaking as she put weight on her elbow.

“Easy there, ma. Let me help you.” Rio moved from behind her to in front again. He grabbed her arms, pulled her up easily and let her lean against him. He turned on the faucet, grabbed the cup that was by the sink, and filled it up with water for her to rinse her mouth.

She took the cup, squinting at him as if she had just woken up. “Rio?”

Yeah, she was definitely out of it. “Morning, Elizabeth.”

She groaned, rinsing her mouth and then taking the hand towel he offered. “God, I have to get the kids to school.”

“In the middle of July?”

Beth looked at him with a frown, then started swaying where she stood.

Rio grabbed both her arms and steadied her. “You ain’t going nowhere.”

Beth groaned again, letting her head fall against his chest.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Rio didn’t let go of her as he readjusted his position and began helping her out of the bathroom and towards her bed.

“M’not tired. Gotta meet Rio at the bar.”

“Yeah, you’re a few hours late for that.” He sat her down on the bed, only slightly concerned as she immediately fell backwards.

Rio moved her until she was lying on her side and head on a pillow. He touched her forehead again. It was still burning. He went back into the bathroom, grabbed a washcloth and ran it under cold water. He made a note to go back in there to clean up the mess.

But there were a few other things taking precedence right now.

He went back to Beth, placed the washcloth on her forehead and ignored the way she moaned. “You take anything yet?” He asked, already glancing at her nightstand for medicine.

“M’out.”

Rio raised an eyebrow. “Your white suburban ass is out of medicine? What, do you only use essential oils or somethin’?”

Beth didn’t stir at his comment.

“A’ight. I’ll get something for you. Be back in a sec.”

But he knew he was going to take much longer than a second. Because as soon as Rio crossed that threshold, he would step right back into chaos. And there was no way he could go back into Beth’s room and leave the kids to continue acting like savages.

At least Jane was still at the bar drinking her milk. The oldest boy (Kenny maybe? He was pretty sure that was his name written on the top of that math worksheet he helped him on all those months ago.) was still in the living room watching TV. He had finished his popcorn and the dog was no where to be seen. The other girl was sitting next to her sister, a spray bottle in hand as she worked on pulling the slime out of her hair.

The other boy and the dog were missing. And if Rio were any other man, that would’ve frightened him.

“Hey, where’s your brother?” Rio asked Kenny as he stood behind the couch.

Kenny looked behind him, finally registering that Rio was here. “When’d you get here?” He asked more out of curiosity than concern.

“Don’t matter. Where’s your brother?” Rio hated repeating himself, but he would have to make an exception today.

He would probably have to make a lot of exceptions actually.

Kenny looked back to the TV as he shrugged his shoulders in response.

Rio pursed his lips. The remote was on the coffee table. He could easily just walk across the room, grab the remote, and shut the TV off.

But then he heard barking and screaming.

He took a few quick steps to the kitchen window, avoiding the milk puddle, and looked outside.

There was the other boy. Running around the backyard with the dog. And it would’ve been fine if the slime the boy had been holding was not currently covering the dog.

He opened the back door. “Hey, come inside!” Rio called out.

He ran up to the house without protest, the dog following behind him. But Rio stopped them both.

“Take off your shoes. They’re muddy.”

The boy looked down at his shoes, shrugged, then did as Rio asked. He moved to come inside, but Rio still stood in his way. “The dog stays outside.”

“What? But Mom says-“

“That dog is full of mud and slime,” Rio pointed at the dog, keeping his face from screwing up in disgust. “Once he gets a bath, then he can come in."

“But-“

“No. Inside. Now.”

The boy groaned and complained.

Rio held his ground, giving him the same stare he used on people who short him. And with Marcus on the few occasions he decided to try talking back to him.

And yet, his complaining _grew_.

If he could, Rio would just leave him outside. Let him get as dirty and worn out as he wanted. He didn’t feel like arguing with a kid. But he needed to get some medicine and there was no way he was going to leave these kids unsupervised again.

He placed his hands on his knees, lowering himself slightly to get on eye level with this boy. He took more after his father than Beth in physical appearances. But Rio saw his mom's stubborn spirit blazing in his eyes. “You know what’s going on with your ma?”

He shook his head.

Rio clicked his tongue. “She’s sick to her stomach, really confused too. Thought she needed to take y'all to school right now. So we need to get her some medicine. And you’re going to come inside, clean yourself up, and come with me to the store. Got it?”

He narrowed his eyes and Rio could see an argument building within him.

“What’s your name?” Rio asked before the argument could spill out.

“Danny.”

“Danny. When’s the last time you did something nice for your mom?”

And Danny actually looked down, a sheepish expression blooming as he shrugged.

So there was hope this kid wouldn’t end up clueless like his dad.

“Right. So you’re going to leave the dog out here, come inside, and do whatever it is I tell you to do because we gotta take care of your mom. Got it?”

Danny looked up, straightened his back and nodded.

Rio smiled. “Good. Now let’s get inside and make sure your siblings get what’s about to go down.”

To his credit, Danny went straight for the bathroom upstairs. Rio looked at the three remaining children and rubbed a hand down his face.

He was going to be a bit more than fifteen minutes late picking up Marcus.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, thanks so much for all your kind comments/kudos!!! I am having so much fun writing this story and I'm glad everyone is enjoying it too! Let me know what you lovelies think of this next chapter!
> 
> Also, props to those who pointed out my small mix-up with Kenny and Danny! Those edits have been made! <3

“Yo, Kenny, turn that TV off.” Rio went into the living room as soon as he was sure Danny had gone into the bathroom. He didn’t look up at Kenny though, searching through his phone for the quickest way to get slime out of hair.

Everything that came up to him lots of vinegar would be involved.

Rio looked up a few seconds after asking, seeing that Kenny had yet to move. “Hey, the TV. I told you to turn that off.”

“Why?” Kenny popped a few more chips into his mouth.

Rio grabbed the remote and shut the TV off.

“Hey!” Kenny jumped up and was about to snatch the remote back out of Rio’s hand.

But Rio held the remote out of reach. “Nah, I told you turn it off. It stays off. Now come on, get your shoes on.”

“Why? Where are we going?”

Kenny’s voice held just a hint of a whine. And Rio hated hearing whining kids. Especially when they were hitting puberty and their voices were already cracking on a normal basis. Just like Kenny.

Before he could answer, there was a tug on his arm.

It was the girl with the slime in her hair. And her face was filled with tears. “I can’t get it out! I can’t get it out! It’s going to be stuck forever! I'm going to have to shave my head and I'm going to look like you!"

“No, none of that's gonna happen. We just need to wash it in some vinegar.”

Kenny laughed. “And then Emma’s going to smell like pickles. She's going to have pickled hair!”

“I don’t want to smell like pickles! I don't want my hair to be pickled!” Emma wailed.

“No, no, no. No one is going to smell like pickles!”

“I’m going to kill Danny!”

Rio managed to grab Emma by the waist and lifted her up over his shoulder just as she turned to run up the stairs. She squirmed and pounded his back to be let go, but Rio held her even tighter. He moved his head to the side, narrowly missing her swinging, slime-filled hair. “Kenny, get your shoes on. Jane go with your brother upstairs and get some dry clothes on.”

And protests shot through the air.

"I don't want to change! I want more milk!"

"Where are we going?! I don't want to go anywhere today!"

"Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!"

“Hey!" Rio yelled, stopping all the protests. "Your mama is in her room, sick to her stomach, confused as hell-“

“Ooo, you said a bad word!”

Rio took a deep breath. “Confused as _heck_,” Rio turned to give Jane a pointed look. “And out of medicine. So we need to go to the store and you are all coming with me.”

“But Mom’s here!” Kenny protested. “Why do we have to go with you if she’s here.”

Rio counted to ten in his head. “She is _sick_,” he reiterated. “She can’t watch you. Don’t you see the mess in this house? Do you think if she was actually watching you four, this house would be like this? _No_, we are _all_ going to the store.”

Kenny balled up his fists. And if Rio thought Danny looked like Dean, Kenny looked even more like him.

“Get. Your. Shoes.”

“Can I get a candy?” Jane asked, breaking the stare down between Kenny and Rio.

“If you get dry clothes on and your shoes.” Rio walked with Emma still over his shoulder, set her down on the kitchen island and searched through the cabinets for the vinegar.

“Can I have some too?” Emma asked as well.

Rio found the vinegar under the sink. He set the bottle down next to Emma. “If you hold still while I fix your hair.”

“Wait, if they get something, can I?”

Rio looked up to see Kenny had finally left the living room and was standing just a few paces away. “Thought you said you didn’t want to go?”

Kenny shrugged his shoulders.

“How about this. You help me keep your brother and sisters in line at the store and I’ll get you something.”

“Can you get me a video game?”

“Nope. Something small.” Rio turned around to grab a bowl and filled it halfway with warm water. Kenny hadn’t answered by the time he turned back to face him. “We got a deal?”

“I guess.”

“Good. Now take Jane upstairs and help her pick out some clothes.” Rio poured some vinegar into the bowl and mixed it all together.

Kenny grabbed Jane’s hand and led her upstairs. Rio watched, making sure they made it up before turning his focus back on Emma. “You ready to get this gunk out of your hair?”

Emma nodded, wiping away a few frustrated tears. “And then can I teach Danny a lesson?”

Rio smirked, lightly tapping her chin. “So long as there’s no blood, no tears, and no permanently ruining anything that costs more than twenty dollars."

“But he ruined my hair!”

Rio’s phone started buzzing before he could answer. He pulled it out, hoping it wasn’t who he thought it was.

But of course, it was exactly who Rio didn’t want to hear from.

Marcus’ coach.

"He didn't ruin your hair. I'm gonna fix it," he said to Emma just before answering the phone. “Hey, man, I’m sorry. Kind of got caught up with…something.” He looked down to vinegar mixture and began thinking through how he was going to dip Emma’s hair in it.

_“I get it, but I mean, you’re fifteen minutes late already. When do you think you’ll be coming?”_

Shit, how had that much time pass already? “You know what? I’m on my way. Ten minutes tops.”

_“Okay…it’s just…I was wondering-”_

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll make it double this time since I’m so late.”

_“All right. I’ll let Marcus know you’re on your way.”_

Rio hung up the phone, blowing out a deep breath as he looked at Emma, the slime in her hair, and the vinegar in the bowl. In his mind, he began listing out the things that needed to happen in the next fifteen minutes.

Buy medicine.

Pick up Marcus.

Get the slime out of Emma’s hair.

Now to prioritize those items…

Rio clapped his hands together. “I’m gonna need to get your hair all wet, so let’s go upstairs to the bathroom.”

“And then I can get back at Danny?”

“No, you gotta wait until after we get your mom her medicine.”

“But-!”

“Hey, you gotta be patient and bide your time. Don’t react on your emotions. Wait, make a good plan, then the payback will be even better.” It was the same thing he would tell Marcus when one of cousins decided to play a prank on him. Usually, Marcus ended up forgetting about the whole ordeal moments later.

Emma groaned loudly. as she hopped off the counter. “Fine.”

Rio had a feeling Emma would not be forgetting.

Especially considering Danny was walking out of the bathroom just as Emma reached the top of the stairs.

Danny grinned widely. "Kenny said you're going to have pickled hair now."

Emma let out a growl, but Rio held her back with one arm before she could charge for him. "Man, go get changed already and stop messin' with your sister!"

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Emma had not forgotten. Of course she hadn't. Because there was still slime in her hair. But Rio had to go already, so he wrapped up her vinegar-soaked hair in a towel, gave her a hat to put on once it was semi-dry, and ushered the rest of the kids out of the house.

He popped into Beth’s room before leaving. She was snoring softly. Rio pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. Still hot with fever. He placed a new wet cloth on her forehead and left a note on her nightstand that he took the kids with him in case she woke up.

In her condition, whatever condition that might be, Rio didn’t think she actually would wake up before he came back.

He grabbed the keys to Beth’s momma van and unlocked it, allowing the kids to climb into their places.

Kenny took the front seat, Jane sat in the middle row, buckling herself into her booster seat. Danny sat next to her and Emma took the very back seat, mumbling under her breath threats to Danny.

Oh, but where was Marcus’ booster seat going to go?

“All right Danny, you got two options,” Rio said as he leaned against the opened back door of the van.

The three children in the back turned their attention to him.

“I need to put in another booster chair. So you can sit in the back with Emma, but _no fighting_. Or, you sit in between the two booster chairs.

Danny looked behind him to Emma’s hard glare. “I’ll sit in the middle,” he said, turning his attention back to Rio.

Smart choice. Rio unlocked his car, pulled out Marcus’ booster seat, and installed into Beth’s mini van within a minute. He sat down in the driver’s seat and looked in the rear-view mirror to Jane’s awe-struck face. “What?”

“You did that super fast! Daddy takes forever when he does it.”

Rio smirked at the compliment. Jane’s comment made it just a little easier for Rio to get over the fact that he was driving a mini van.

If any of his guys saw him right now…

Rio adjust the seat and mirrors, wondering why in the hell Beth kept her seat so straight.

And when he turned on the car, Beth’s phone immediately connected with kids music playing. Jane and Danny immediately jumped in to sing along with the song about a family of sharks. This was an all too familiar song for Rio. Marcus loved this song too and anytime he convinced Rio to let him use his iPad, he would immediately pull up the music video for this song.

It drove Rio insane. He'd rather sit and listen to one of Annie's explanations, complete with her 'hip' terminology. (Which made him wonder where Beth's sister was right now? Wouldn't she or their friend be over right now taking care of Beth and the kids? He'd have to look into that after getting some medicine into Beth's system.)

“Aw, hell no,” Rio muttered, shutting off the Bluetooth and switching to the radio. He moved it to the only station he would ever listen to. Jazz.

Thankfully, the baseball field was only ten minutes away from Beth’s house. He pulled in to the parking lot and saw Marcus sitting on the bench with his coach, swinging his legs and talking the young man’s ear off.

“I’ll be right back. Behave, yeah?” Rio turned to make sure Danny and Emma knew he was speaking mostly to them.

Stepping out of the van, both the coach and Marcus looked at Rio with confusion. But the confusion on Marcus’ face was replaced with joy.

“Daddy! I hit a homerun today!” Marcus exclaimed as he jumped up and collided with Rio’s legs.

“Nice one, pops!” He held out his hand for a high five, which Marcus readily gave.

“Yeah, he’s getting better with his swinging. Still pretty distracted when I send him to the field.” The coach approached, stuffing his hands into his jeans and staring at the minivan. “New ride?”

“Long story.” Rio’s voice was curt, pulling out his wallet and grabbing five one hundred bills. Three extra considering he was so late. “Thanks for watching him.” He handed the money over in a handshake.

The coach pocketed the money without so much as glancing at it. He already knew what kind of extra money Rio was handing him. “It’s no problem. He’s a good kid and we got to work on some extra stuff too.”

Rio clapped a hand on Marcus’ shoulder and turned around for the minivan again. He slid open the back door and Jane screamed her delight at Marcus’ presence. To which Marcus began laughing and the two slipped into a quick conversation and Jane recounting all the events that had happened since ‘Mr. Rio’ showed up.

Rio pulled out of the parking lot once Marcus was buckled in, mapping out the quickest route to the nearest pharmacy.

“Daddy, why does it smell like pickles in here?”

“You promised I wasn’t going to smell like pickles!”

“I knew she was going to have pickle hair!”

“Can we buy some pickle popsicles?!”

Rio’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. But not before he reached over and turned up the jazz music just a little bit more.

The pharmacy was maybe five minutes away. These kids were not going to calm down before they got there. He did not sign up to watch four extra kids today and play nurse.

He wondered if Elizabeth Boland knew about the things she made him do.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your lovely comments! I've been trying to reply to them, but my internet has been acting up. So I'm just going to go ahead and post this next chapter and respond to your comments afterwards! I really do appreciate each and every comment/kudos! Hope you lovelies enjoy this next chapter 💕💕💕

The five-minute drive to the pharmacy turned into twenty minutes. Because of course, there had to be a car accident that blocked all the lanes and Rio was trying to cut through a shopping center, but he was on the far left lane and no one was letting him switch to the right lane.

Jane and Marcus were talking loudly, catching each other up on every insignificant detail of their lives. Without Rio knowing, Kenny had brought an iPad with him and was now playing some racing game with the sound effects and music blaring from the horrible speakers on the tablet. Danny would occasionally lean forward, begging Kenny for a turn on the iPad, but Kenny shrugged him off, telling him no way because he was playing with it.

Emma was the only one who was quiet. But every time Rio glanced in the rearview mirror, he could practically see the rage boiling off of her. Danny boy was in for a hell of a time once Emma was officially slime-free. Rio actually thought that maybe he should intervene.

But he was always a firm believer in letting kids resolve their own issues. So long as they didn’t have to go to an emergency room and there was no property damage. Sure, that was definitely simplifying the actual boundaries he placed on Marcus in situations like this, but he could already picture the huff of disbelief from Beth if he ever shared that with her.

It was enough to bring a tiny smirk to his lips.

The smirk immediately vanished though when some idiot decided to cut him off when he finally had a chance to inch forward in the traffic. He had to slam on the brakes, earning shouts of surprise from all the children.

His knuckles were white by the time they finally drove past the accident. And literally, just a block away from the car accident, Rio pulled into the parking lot for the pharmacy.

He didn’t turn the van off right away, twisting in his seat to look at all five children. “We’re gonna in and comin’ straight out. No wanderin’ off, no grabbin’ nothin' you shouldn’t. Kenny, you still plannin' on helpin’ me keep ‘em all in line?”

“If I can get a gift card.”

“No more than twenty dollars.” Rio turned off the van.

“Fifty.”

He turned to look back at Kenny, eyebrows raised. “Twenty.”

“Forty-five.”

“Fifteen.”

“Hey! That’s not how this works!”

Rio wanted to laugh. Did Elizabeth know Kenny inherited her terrible negotiating skills? “Fifteen,” Rio repeated.

Kenny huffed. “Fine. I’ll do twenty.”

“Nope. Not part of the deal anymore.”

“But-!”

“You gotta learn when to cut your losses. If you got a good deal starin’ you in the face, don’t try and reach for somethin’ you know you’re not gonna get.”

Maybe Elizabeth would’ve accepted that tiny lesson from him during those first few times she tried her hand at bargaining with him. If he ever offered it, that is.

As he looked at Kenny’s face contorting with indignation though, he realized Kenny was just like his mother and Elizabeth would’ve pushed back as well.

Rio got out of the van, opening the child-safety locked doors. Danny jumped out, impatiently climbing over Jane and ignoring her cries at still being stuck in her booster seat. Rio went to unbuckle her first, then leaned over and undid Marcus’ as well. The two climbed out and Rio looked over his shoulder to see them waiting by the front of the van with Kenny making sure they stayed together.

And Rio should’ve gone over to join them, locking up the van and already picking out which medicines to buy.

But Emma stayed in the backseat, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Come on, ‘lil mama. We gotta go.”

“I’m not getting off.”

“Yeah. You are.” Rio resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. But maybe he should’ve to prevent the growing migraine.

Emma shut her eyes and shook her head.

“Don’t you wanna pick out your candy?”

This was not bribery. Rio did not stoop down to bribing kids. He always made it clear with Marcus that this was negotiating. And he had already worked out a deal with Kenny. Why couldn’t he work one out with Emma? Besides, candy had already been promised.

“It’s because I smell like pickles!”

One thing Rio didn’t like doing though was lying. Especially to kids. So he didn’t tell her that she didn’t smell like pickles because, holy shit, did she smell like pickles. Instead, he said, “You know what? I bet there’s someone in there that’s gonna smell a whole lot worse than you do.”

Emma peeked up at him. “Are you sure?”

Rio nodded. “And you know what? I’ll even help you look for that person. Deal?”

Emma tilted her head. For a moment, he thought she was going to pull an Elizabeth, just like Kenny had, and attempt to negotiate the deal somehow.

Thankfully, Emma agreed.

Rio pulled the towel off her head, swallowing back his reaction at the growing intensity of the vinegar smell. He also managed to hide a small wince as some of her hair stuck to the towel due to the slime. But he easily pulled it off with a quick yank and put the hat on her, stifling the scent once more.

Once out of the van, Rio did a quick headcount before walking into the pharmacy.

With an eagle tattoo on his neck, Rio was used to stares. Especially walking into stores in places like this, out in the suburbs where everyone wore pastel and the men walked around with loafers and joked about golf.

But with five kids encircling him as he walked, the stares were even more obvious.

At least the cashier didn’t pay him any attention, barely mumbling out a ‘welcome to Walgreens,’ as she scrolled through her phone.

Rio made his way to the aisle with all the fever medicine, managing not to trip over Danny or Marcus who decided to walk right in front of him. Emma walked beside him, loudly sniffing whenever they passed someone. Jane and Kenny were on his other side, Kenny holding Jane’s hand and dragging her along when she insisted she wanted to go into a different aisle to look at the toys.

A whole shelf was full of different fever medicines, differing in intensity, side effects, kid-friendly version, and other symptoms. He ruled out the bottles that were kid-friendly and only dealt with the fever.

Leaving about ten different bottles for him to look through.

“Yo, Kenny, d’you know if your mama’s allergic to anything?” Rio asked as he looked intently at the ingredients on one of the bottles.

Kenny shrugged, ignoring the way Jane pulled at his arm to move in a different direction. “She doesn’t like peas.”

Rio paused to look at Kenny. The information didn’t help him, but seriously? She didn’t like peas? Wasn’t that the side dish that every white suburban mom like her forced their kids to eat?

He could dwell on that fact later though. He stood up from his crouch with the medicine in hand and motioned for the kids to continue following him. For half a moment, Rio felt as if they were mini body guards with the way they surrounded him as they walked.

Rio handed Marcus the medicine while he grabbed a couple of Gatorades for Danny to hold and a gallon of Sprite that he carried.

As he grabbed them, an older man walked past them. Another odd stare from the man, but Rio ignored him.

Then he heard Emma give a loud sniff that was quickly followed by a cough. “Ugh, Mr. Rio!”

Rio held his breath. She wasn’t about to do this. She wasn’t about to shout to the whole store what he thought she was going to shout.

“He smells a whole lot worse than me, right?”

And at least she whispered. The old man kept walking, apparently not having heard Emma’s comment. She did have a point though. When he walked past, Rio caught a whiff and it definitely was a whole lot stronger than Emma’s vinegarized hair. Rio scrunched up his nose and nodded to give Emma the vindication she was looking for. “See, what’d I tell you?”

Emma grinned.

“A’ight, let’s get moving. We got everythin’.”

“What about my candy?” Jane asked, breaking free of Kenny’s hold and bouncing in front of Rio.

“Wait, can I get candy too?” Marcus spun around to face his dad.

And now Rio had four of the kids demanding candy and Kenny reminding him about getting a gift card.

“Yes, yes, you can all get candy. Just don’t go crazy,” Rio hissed out to try and not draw anymore attention to them. “Kenny, you know the deal we cut.”

No one was in line so Rio set down the Sprite and took the medicine and Gatorades back so the cashier could scan the items. The idea was for them to have their candy picked out by the time the main items were scanned.

But only Kenny had set down his chosen gift card. An xbox game card.

Rio was sure they could’ve spent a whole hour picking out their candy, discussing the pros and cons of getting chocolate instead of gummies or the difference of flavor between Nestle and Hershey and how sour the sour jaw breakers actually were. There still wasn’t a line behind them, but Rio was ready to leave. The trip to the pharmacy had gone a lot smoother than he thought and he didn’t want to waste another second.

“Pick something or else I pick out granola bars for everyone.” Rio’s voice was close to a growl.

Hands scrambled to pick out the wrapped candies and they placed them on the counter.

And as the cashier was scanning those last few items, someone finally came up behind them in the line.

It was the old man that passed them. The one Emma said smelled worse than her.

Rio pulled out a hundred, not even waiting for the cashier to tell him the amount. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched the five kids, bouncing around on the balls of their feet. Jane and Marcus grabbing on to the counter to peek over it, Danny kicking some invisible dirt on the ground, Emma looking longingly at all the candy she didn’t grab and Kenny standing back and watching them with a disinterested look.

They hadn’t noticed the man yet.

They could still make it out of the pharmacy without incident.

The cashier pulled out one of those fraud markers. She marked the bill, then held it up to the light.

The action annoyed Rio. She was opening the window of opportunity for something to go wrong. He wanted to tell her he personally knew it was real. Everything in his wallet was cleaned by his best washer: Elizabeth Boland.

She opened the cash drawer and put in the very bottom. Rio passed out the grocery bags, keeping the heavier one for himself.

“Your change is…”

He didn’t hear the rest of it.

“What’s that smell?” Marcus asked loudly.

And, of course, it had to be his kid to bring this whole thing crashing down.

“Ew, I smell it too!” Jane exclaimed.

“I bet Danny farted.” Kenny laughed, pinching his nose to block out the smell.

“Nu-uh!”

Rio looked at Emma. She seemed to physically be biting her tongue, not bothering to hide a smirk as she glanced to the old man, who was glaring at them, then back to everyone else.

The cashier held out the change. Rio took it and stuffed it in his pocket, mumbling a quick thanks and herding the children to the exit. They were so close and Rio thought they might actually make it...

“It was the old man! He’s the one that smelled! And he smells worse than me!”

Rio clenched his jaw and refused to look back. Emma had announced this to the rest of the kids just as the automatic doors opened.

Emma was loud enough for the old man to hear, his cursing reaching Rio’s ears as he continued herding them out, his jaw not unclenching until they made it to the van, everyone buckled in, and he pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

“No one’s getting off this couch until I come back out. And if someone does get it up, it better be because that person decided they were going to start cleaning up this mess. Understood?”

Only Marcus actually made eye contact with him and nodded. The rest were too engrossed in their candy/gift card.

“Understood?” he repeated a little louder.

Emma and Kenny nodded.

That was going to have be good enough for right now.

Rio went into the kitchen, grabbing the thermometer he found while looking for the vinegar, then headed towards Elizabeth’s room with the medicine and a Gatorade in hand.

Beth was sitting up in bed, attempting to pull on some rain boots.

“What you doin’ up, mami?” Rio asked, hoping this was a sign that she was feeling better.

But she looked up at him with glassy eyes. “I gotta pick up…” her eyes began blinking slowly and she started leaning towards one side.

Rio crossed the room in two steps and caught Beth before she could completely fall over. “Easy there, mama. What you gotta pick up?” he asked, propping her up against a few pillows. He sat on the edge of the bed and took off the rain boot she had put on, shaking his head with a small smile as he realized it was on the wrong foot.

“My kids. They…no, wait…” She moaned and held her head. “Where’d they go?”

“I just took them to the pharmacy real quick. Brought you back some medicine.” Rio started opening the packaging, checking the dosage before popping out two pills for Elizabeth.

Beth half groaned, half laughed. “Whatever…Annie took ‘em. Oh God, Annie has them…”

“Where’s your sister and friend anyways?” Rio handed her the pills and an opened Gatorade.

She stared down at the pills he just placed in her hand. “I don’t want jelly beans.”

“Those the good kind. Drink up.”

A pout covered Beth’s face before popping the pills and swallowing them down.

“Now open up.” Rio held up the thermometer for her to see.

She scowled, before opening her mouth.

Rio stuck the thermometer in and waited.

Beth stared at him, but Rio wasn’t sure she was seeing him. Her eyes stayed glassy and she blinked slowly. The thermometer began beeping rapidly.

102.3

Rio clicked his tongue. “What’s goin' on with you, Elizabeth?”

She groaned in response and buried further down into the pillows.

He gently eased her down to a lying position after rinsing off the thermometer and getting another fresh wet washcloth. “Gotta get this fever down soon. If it gets any worse, you gotta go to the hospital.”

Another groan. “Can’t. I need to…where’s Rio?”

“Right here.”

She peeked open an eye and stared at him. Then she laughed. “No you’re not…Rio wouldn’t make a good nurse.”

He quirked an eyebrow, running the washcloth over her check and down to her neck. “Can’t wait for you to eat your words once you’re all there again.”

Beth swatted his hand away with as much energy as she could muster.

Rio laid the washcloth on her forehead. “Imma’ get you some water.”

“Have to get the kids though…Annie took ‘em.” Beth’s words were slurring even more, turning her face and half talking into the pillow.

“No, they're in the living room.”

“She’ll get ‘em sick too.”

“That right?” Maybe he would need to get a hold of her sister, get some answers out of her as to what the hell Beth had caught.

Beth responded with a light snore.

Rio smirked, brushing back some of her hair.

Then he heard a shriek from the living room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had a whole lot of fun writing this chapter, but can I just say that I am extra excited for the next chapter??? Thank you all so much for the lovey comments/kudos! Hope you enjoy this new chapter and as always, leave your thoughts/kudos! Much love my dears 💕💕💕

When Rio was in elementary, he would almost always win any race during gym class. When he started at the bottom of this business, a whole lot of running was involved and not once did he get caught from the people he was running from. And now every morning, he would start his day off with at least a half hour run around the park.

So, naturally, Rio prided himself on being a fast runner.

Which is how he made it out of Beth’s room and back into the living room in three seconds flat.

He almost wished he didn’t make it there so quickly.

The hat he put on Emma when they into the store was dangling in her hair, stuck by the remaining slime.

“It’s not coming off! My hair’s ruined! I’m going to have to shave off all my hair and I’ll be _bald_!”

“At least your hair won’t smell like pickles anymore,” Jane said from her spot on the couch, attempting to cheer up her older sister.

But it only made it worse.

Emma began pulling the hat even harder, all the while staring Danny down with clenched teeth. “I’m going to get you!”

Danny at least had the sense to look semi-terrified.

Rio went into the living room and lifted Emma up again. “Hey, stop pulling at that or else you’ll really ruin your hair.”

“But Danny-!”

“I know what he did. But right now we gotta get this mess out of your hair and everyone else needs to clean up. I want everything in this house and that dog outside _spotless_ for your mom, got it?”

“I didn’t make a mess,” Kenny said as he crossed his arms.

Rio tilted his head. “Good for you. Now get up and clean.”

“But I didn’t make a mess,” Kenny repeated.

“I know, but your brother and sisters did. And sometimes when your family makes a mess, you gotta work to clean it up too.”

“No. I’m not going to.” Kenny crossed his arms and settled further back into the couch.

Emma was tugging at the hat again and the three other children were watching Rio and Kenny like a tennis match.

Rio clenched his jaw, holding Kenny’s steady gaze. He did not want to put up with this shit.

But here he was. Because _no one_ else was here and Rio couldn’t understand why no one else was here, but what could he do about it now?

He set Emma down. “Go upstairs and wait for me in the bathroom. Danny, you’re cleaning up that slime from the walls, Jane, pick up that milk you spilled. Marcus, grab your bag and change and then you’re going to help put all the toys away.”

The kids scurried off to do as Rio told them, but he did have to redirect Emma’s path because she looked ready to kick Danny as she passed him to the upstairs bathroom.

And now it was just him and Kenny, back to their stare down.

Rio took a step back to sit on the coffee table and face Kenny. “So you ain’t gonna clean. What you plannin’ on doin’?”

Kenny shrugged and looked down at the gift card. “Play on the xbox.”

“Usin’ the card I bought you right?”

Kenny threw it at him. “Fine, have it back. But I’m not cleaning!”

Rio caught the card. After it had hit him in the face of course. These were all mini-Elizabeth’s. _All of them_. Did anybody else realize this, or was it just him? “I don’t want this. I want you to get up and clean.”

“No.”

“_Now._”

Kenny narrowed his eyes. “You can’t make me. You’re not my dad.”

For fuck’s sake, this was _definitely_ not something Rio wanted to deal with today. Rio took a deep breath. “No, I’m not.” He made sure his voice was still firm, but maybe just a little bit softer. Because he remembered yelling this when he was eleven years old at a man who had suddenly come into his family’s life.

He understood completely. And even if it wasn't something he wanted to deal with, here he was, about to deal with it.

“You’ve already got a dad.” Rio didn’t give his opinion on Dean’s parenting skills though. Kenny didn’t need to hear that negativity right now. “I ain’t tryin’ to be your dad right now. What I’m tryin’ to do is make sure your mama gets better quickly and once she does, she'll come out and see that her house ain’t a disaster. And you know what? You’re the oldest. You gotta set an example for the younger ones. All of ‘em are watchin’ you right now, seein’ how you refusin’ get up and help. They keep seein’ you on the couch, doin’ nothin’, what do you think they gonna do?”

Kenny stared at his hands and shrugged.

“What do you think they gonna do?” Rio repeated.

“I don’t know.” Kenny’s voice came out as a frustrated squeak.

“They ain’t gonna clean up either. And who’s gonna be left cleanin’?”

“You.”

Rio laughed. “Hell no. I’m gonna help, but I ain’t cleanin’ this entire mess up by myself. Nah, you’d be leavin’ this mess for your mom.” Rio paused to check if his words were getting through the Kenny. “You think that’s fair?”

Kenny shook his head.

“Come on,” Rio motioned with his head as he stood up. “Go help Jane clean up that milk. She’s probably gonna make it a whole lot worse without someone helpin’ her.” He slipped the gift card into his back pocket, deciding to give it to Kenny _after_ the house was spotless.

Kenny didn’t move for a few moments and Rio thought that maybe everything he just said went in one ear and out there. Beth was going to have her hands full with this one and his pre-teen angst.

But then Kenny dragged himself up and went to the kitchen to grab some paper towels.  
  
Maybe he wouldn't end up being _that _bad.

Rio watched, satisfied as he saw all the kids cleaning.

Now, he had to deal with Emma.

He grabbed the bottle of vinegar from the kitchen and carried it with him to the upstairs bathroom.

Emma was leaning against the bathtub, knees brought up to her chest and angry tears were dripping from her eyes.

“A’ight, you ready to get your hair back to normal?”

Emma scrubbed at her eyes roughly, then nodded wordlessly.

“Bring me a chair or somethin’. We’ll lean it against the sink so I can get all your hair.”

Emma quickly left while Rio rolled up his sleeves and opened up the vinegar bottle.

She was definitely going to have to shower after this treatment.

Emma came back, dragging in a plastic blue chair with astronauts on it, and leaned it against the sink.

Rio eyed the chair, then Emma’s dark look. “That chair Danny’s?”

Emma nodded. “If I have to smell like pickles, then all of his things need to smell like pickles too.”

Rio raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Like he said before, they needed to solve this on their own.

He turned on the faucet, making sure the water was warm, before having Emma lean back and soaking her hair. He started pouring vinegar all over, focusing on the places where the slime was and trying to gently unstick the hair.

Originally, he pulled out a small purple brush from the shelf in the vanity, but then Emma interjected. “Don’t use that one! Use that blue comb.”

Rio smirked. “You ain’t gonna let him get off easily.”

Emma shook her head.

“Hey, no squirmin’.” Rio jumped back to avoid several drops of vinegar.

“Sorry.” Emma’s shoulder rose a little as she looked up at him bashfully.

Rio worked steadily, throwing the slime in the bathroom trashcan and grateful Beth placed plastic bags in it. He finally managed to get the hat free and threw it in the tub. That was definitely going to need to be washed at least twice.

He made sure to pay attention to the noise from downstairs. There was the soft clatter and the sound of the kids talking, Jane and Marcus’ voices floating up more than Danny and Kenny. He hadn’t hear anything break or any fighting or the sound of the TV.

As a parent himself, Rio knew that wouldn’t last long. So he worked as quickly as he was able.

“So where your dad at?” Rio asked Emma. Might as well figure out why there was no one else here taking care of Beth and the kids.

Emma shrugged. “It’s Mommy’s week with us.”

“Yeah, but she can’t really take care of you with her being sick like that. He comin’ anytime soon to pick you up?”

Emma shrugged, reaching up and scratching her nose.

Rio guessed Emma really didn't know. “What about Annie or Ruby?”

“Aunt Ruby went to Disney World,” Emma said with a little pout. “I wanted to go and so did everyone else, but Mommy didn’t let us because she said it’s too expensive and then she was telling Aunt Ruby that she didn’t wash enough money to let us go too.”

Rio nodded, wondering if Emma understood what it meant when Beth said she had to wash money.

“Then I told Mommy that she should just put all the money in the sink and pour a whole bunch of soap so she can wash it fast. Do you know what she said?”

Rio couldn’t help his smirk. “What’d she say?” he asked, looking down at her while he combed out more slime.

“She laughed at me!”

A laugh escaped Rio’s mouth, but he quickly stifled it as Emma’s indignant look. “Hey, I’m sorry.” He held up a hand in slight defensive. “Your mama, she’s just…she’s somethin’ else.”

Emma titled her head as she looked up at him. It was almost the same look Marcus would give him when he was about to call Rio out on something, but using his childlike innocence to charm an answer out of him.

Rio straightened her head, knowing he was going to have to distract her before she could come up with the words. “Hold still.”

Emma squirmed a little in the chair, but didn’t move her head.

“What about Annie? Where she at?”

Emma shrugged. “Kenny tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up.”

“She in town though?”

“Mhmm.”

Rio pursed his lips in thought. Maybe he could get her to stay here until Beth was at least well enough to know who was standing in front of her.

Of course, Beth did mention Annie would get the kids sick too.

Going by what he knew about Annie, that could mean a wide variety of things.

“Done.” Rio said as he ran his fingers through Emma’s slime-free hair. “Now take a shower so you can get that vinegar smell out.” He grabbed the remaining vinegar and moved to walk out of the bathroom.

“Wait!”

Rio stopped in the doorway and looked at her with a frown.

“Can you leave the vinegar here?”

Rio narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

Emma shrugged. “What if I find more slime in my hair?”

“Nah, I made sure it’s all out.”

“Yeah, but…I mean, what if?”

Rio considered all the possible options for her request. Almost all of them revolved around her getting back at Danny. He set the vinegar bottle on top of the toilet. “Remember, no permanent damage to any of his stuff, got it?”

Emma grinned and nodded.

* * *

It was a good thing Rio went downstairs when he did. The kids were still cleaning, but weren’t cleaning as well as they had been when Rio first left them.

Marcus was grabbing the toys and putting them in a basket Jane held, all the while, Jane explaining the history and her favorite game to play with said toy. Marcus wouldn’t pick up another toy until she finished her story.

Danny had collected a large ball of slime from the wall, but it left behind stairs. Rio would have to go back and wipe it down with vinegar probably. He just hoped Emma wouldn’t use the rest of it. Kenny was putting away different items in the kitchen. All the while eating pretzels and dropping crumbs everywhere.

At least the milk was mopped up. But Rio knew he was going to have to go over it again after seeing the streaks their mopping job left behind.

“You two, if you can’t talk and clean at the same time, then I want no talkin’,” Rio said as he bent down to grab a handful of toys and dump them in the basket as he passed Marcus and Jane. He went into the kitchen and took the bag of pretzels away from Kenny and stuffed them on top of the fridge. “Man, if you’re hungry, then sit down and some leftovers of somethin’.” He grabbed a cleaning spray from under the sink and a wet rag, then started working right next to Danny, spraying down the slime stains and trying to get them out.

“Is she still mad?”

Rio paused as he looked down at Danny. “Your sister?”

Danny nodded, not looking at Rio as he picked at a particular stubborn piece of slime.

Rio scoffed lightly. “Not too much. Got all the slime out so there’s no haircut for her in the future.”

The slime came off and Danny was now rubbing it between his fingers. Rio watched him for a moment, his face scrunched in thought. Rio didn’t say anything, letting him take his time to gather what he wanted to say.

“I didn’t think it was going to get stuck like that,” Danny finally whispered.

“What did you think was gonna happen then?”

Danny shrugged. “I thought it’d just fall off like it does in my hands.”

“Well it didn’t.” Rio crouched down to start working on a lower stain. “You gonna do somethin’ like that again?”

Danny quickly shook his head.

“So what do you think you should do now?”

“Apologize?”

“Why you gotta say it like a question? Nah, try that again.”

“Apologize,” Danny said more firmly.

“That’s a good place to start, but what else you gonna do?”

Danny looked at Rio with a frown. “What do you mean?”

“You messed up her hair pretty good. How long was I up there trying to get all that mess out? Nah, apologies don’t always make things right. You gotta do somethin’ for her too.”

“Like what?”

Rio shrugged. “Ask her. I’m sure she’d have somethin’ for you to do.”

Danny continued picking away at the slime, mulling over Rio’s words.

They probably cleaned about ten minutes more before Emma came back down, hair wet and loose, but free of slime.

Danny didn’t hesitate in dropping what he was doing and moving to stand in front of her. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I didn’t mean to ruin your hair.”

Rio stood up from his crouch and watched the interaction. Emma stared at him, one hand on her hip and the other holding the bottle of vinegar. “You made me think I was going to have to shave my head.”

“Sorry?”

Emma narrowed her eyes.

“Um, I can clean your room?”

His response took Emma by surprise. “Really?”

Danny nodded. “Or do your chores for a week. Just…something nice for you?”

Emma blinked. “Okay. You can clean my room.”

“And you won’t be mad at me anymore?”

“No.”

Danny grinned and hurried back to his slime-removing station.

Rio gave Danny a smile of approval, then looked at Emma as she made her way towards him.

“Here’s the bottle,” she said, quietly and avoiding looking at Danny all of a sudden.

Rio took the bottle. It was empty. He did not want to know what Emma had done with the rest of the vinegar.

He went to throw the bottle away, then clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention.

“A’ight, we gonna’ leave the house as it is for right now. You guys are doin’ a great job, but we’re ‘bout to head out.”

“Where are we going?” Jane asked, dropping the basket of toys in the middle of the floor.

At least none of the toys spilled out.

“We’re going to your Aunt Annie’s.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in like three hours, which honestly is a record for me, and I'm just really excited about it and I loved it so much that I couldn't wait until next Friday to post it. So another update! Thanks always for your lovely comments/kudos! I'd love to hear your thoughts about this new chapter :)

“Wait!”

Rio stopped in his buckling up of Jane and looked at her. “What?” He hoped the exasperation in his voice would go unnoticed.

“I don’t want to wear my socks.”

Rio blinked. “No. You’ve had those on all day, you’re gonna’ keep ‘em on. Closed shoes like this without socks on are gross.” Rio grabbed her sneaker-enclosed foot and shook it to make a point.

“But Marcus doesn’t have any socks on.”

Rio groaned. “Come on, pop. We talked about this!”

Marcus winced as he raised his shoulders to his ears.

It had been twenty minutes since Rio announced they were leaving. He wasn’t sure why he thought they would pile into the minivan faster this time around. But they were finally all out of the house and he was just buckling up Jane and they were ready to go…

But Marcus finally admitted to not having socks on while wearing his sneakers.

Rio looked at Marcus after finally buckling Jane up. Marcus’ face was a mixture between a grimace and a smile.

“Ya nasty, boy.” Rio said, shaking his head with just the tiniest hint of amusement. “You’re washin’ your feet real good tonight, got it?” He was not about to go back into the house to grab Marcus’ socks.

Finally, he sat in the drivers seat, turned the van on, and pulled out of the driveway.

“Do you know how to get there?” Kenny asked, not looking up from the iPad he snuck in (again).

“'Course I do.”

And he did. Rio always made it a point to make sure he knew exactly where his business associates lives. Even though Annie wasn’t technically one of his associates, she was in the beginning and he had all three of them followed once he found out they were the ones to take his money way back when.

He never thought he would find himself playing nurse for one of them while driving around five kids in a minivan.

It was a peaceful drive. As peaceful as it could be. Marcus and Jane were _still_ talking. They were so tiny, how could so many words be coming out of them? Emma was no longer sulking and humming to herself in the back. Danny had brought action figures with him and was making sound effects as they dueled to their imaginary death. Kenny still had the iPad volume up higher than necessary.

And all the while, Rio turned up the jazz music to semi-block them out. He still needed to make sure they weren’t about to break out into fights.

Only once did he have to turn around in his seat at a red light to settle down Danny and Marcus who decided they were going to see who could make the loudest fart noise.

They pulled into the parking lot of the apartment and Rio spotted Annie’s current clunker. Well, at least she was here. But why didn’t she answer the phone when Kenny tried calling?

The Boland kids led the way, having visited Annie many more times than Rio. They headed up the stairs in the building and, somehow, started a race.

Competition was fine and they were just having fun. But then they shoving started and Rio could see this ending badly.

“Hey, no pushin’. Walk _calmly_ up the stairs please.”

But his demand fell on deaf ears. Even Marcus had chosen to ignore him. Instead, they giggled and continued shoving each other as they clambered up the stairs.

Rio groaned, twisting his neck as he reached out to grab one of them.

But he moved too late.

Jane’s screaming filled the stairwell.

Everyone stopped collectively, including Rio, as Jane curled in on herself and brought a leg to her chest.

Then, of course, Rio was the first one to move, crouching down and pulling Jane up. “See? That’s why you gotta walk up these stairs like a normal person and not like a pack of wild dogs."

He hadn’t exactly seen what happened. All five of them had been running up like a massive blob of short limbs and giggles

“I can’t walk anymore!” Jane wailed, burying her face into Rio’s chest. “It hurts!”

With one hand, Rio cradled her head against his chest and used the other to look down at her foot. Her shoelaces were untied and that could’ve been the cause. Or the shoving. Or the running. Or the fact that all five of them tried to squeeze their way through the stairwell when it was obviously only made for two people to walk through.

Her ankle was red and he assumed she twisted it. Thankfully, it wasn’t swelling. It didn’t seem like a bad fall, probably scaring her more. But he knew it would still need ice, just in case. “Think you can try and walk?” Rio asked, pulling back a little to look down at her.

She shook her head against his chest. At the same time, the movement also wiped away her dripping boogers all over his shirt.

Rio pursed his lips and took a deep breath. “Okay then.” He stood up, scooping her into his arms to which the wrapped herself around him like a baby monkey. Then he eyed the remaining kids with a half-dangerous look. “We’re _walking_ up the stairs, yeah?”

They all nodded.

Thankfully, it was only two more flights of stairs.

And within that time, Jane had stopped crying, leaning her head against Rio’s shoulder as she traced his eagle tattoo and deciding to name the eagle Johnny.

They stood in front of the door and Rio motioned with his head for Kenny to knock for him since his hands were full.

Kenny gave a few quick knocks before stepping back.

The door opened to another kid. Rio went over different conversations with Beth about her family. Since this was Annie’s apartment, that only meant this had to be her son, Sadie.

“Hi Sadie.” Jane said with a wave.

Sadie stared at the six of them, his eyes wandering from his cousins, to Marcus, to Rio, to Rio’s neck tattoo, then back to his cousins.

“Should I call the police?” Sadie finally asked.

“No.” Kenny made a face. “Why would you?”

“Um…?” Sadie didn’t bother hiding his gesture towards Rio.

“He’s Rio. He’s our mommy’s friend and he knows your mommy too.” Emma said with a proud smile.

Sadie blinked.

This kid was incredibly chill and Rio wondered how in the world Annie Marks gave birth to this calm and collected kid.

“You got any ice in there?” Rio asked. “Lil’ bit here fell and twisted her ankle.”

“Our ice machine’s broken, but I think we’ve got some frozen fish sticks.”

But he didn’t move from the doorway, still staring at the group.

“You gonna’ let us in or what?” Rio asked, adjusting his hold on Jane.

“You promise you’re not going to murder us or something?”

Rio smirked. That sounded more like something the child of Annie Marks would say. “Nah, don’t really have the energy, you know? Watchin’ five kids kind of drains you.”

Then Sadie shrugged his shoulders and opened the door for them. Emma and Danny went to sit one of the couches, the bad blood between them forgotten. Rio followed him into the kitchen, with Marcus trailing behind him, and set Jane down on the kitchen bar. Kenny sat at the table and watched Rio and Sadie.

Rio took the bag of fish sticks Sadie offered and pressed it to Jane’s ankle. “Your mom here?” Rio asked, looking at Jane’s ankle for swelling or bruising.

“Yeah, but…” his face twisted as he leaned against the fridge.

“Is she sick?” Kenny asked.

Sadie turned to look at him. “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Our mom’s sick too.”

Sadie grimaced. “She’s been throwing up her guts all day. I think she’s in the restroom right now doing that actually.”

“Do you know what happened?” Rio asked, finally looking up from Jane’s ankle, satisfied that there wasn’t any further treatment necessary.

And Sadie actually grinned. “Mom cooked last night and only her and Aunt Beth ate the food.”

“You didn’t eat any?”

Sadie scoffed. “No. I never eat anything that woman cooks. She’s got food poisoning now so that’s probably what Aunt Beth has too.”

“Hope you threw away the leftovers.”

“Down the garbage disposal.”

Rio chuckled a little at the shit eating grin on Sadie’s face.

A door further in the apartment opened and closed. Then footsteps came down the hall and Annie came out, still in pajamas and hair a disaster.

She didn’t seem to notice anyone as she went into the kitchen, shooing Sadie away from the fridge to opened it and pull out a bottle of mineral water.

“You made Mommy sick,” Jane spoke up.

Annie finally seemed to realize they were there. Except she stared at them with furrowed brows and squinted eyes. Then she groaned loudly and pressed the cold bottle to her forehead. “Baby, I think you’re going to have to take me the hospital.”

Sadie frowned, concern crossing his face. “Why?”

“I see gangfriend with B’s brood and his mini me.” Then she started swaying a little and Sadie reached out to steady her.

“She got a fever too?” Rio asked.

Sadie nodded.

“Oh God, they’re not disappearing. Why aren’t they disappearing?” Annie moaned, letting her head collapse onto Sadie’s shoulder.

“It gets to 103, you gotta take her to a hospital.”

Sadie winced. “That's kind of expensive though…”

“Call me. I’ll take care of it.” Rio said as he found a pen and paper and scrawled out his number.

Then Annie started laughing. “Oh my God, I think I’m dying. Gangfriend just offered us money.”

“Or if you need anything else. Just call me,” Rio said, eyeing Annie warily, then looking back to Sadie. He balanced Jane on his hip, leaving the bag of fish sticks on the counter. “We’re headin’ out. Got the answers I needed.” He held out his fist, which Sadie immediately fist bumped.

“Thanks man.”

Rio nodded, then turned to the other kids. “Come on, let’s get back home.” And as they left the apartment, Rio made a mental note to himself to up the amount of cash he had Beth clean for him. More cash meant a bigger cut for Beth which meant a bigger cut for Annie and Ruby too.

* * *

As soon as Rio unbuckled Jane from her booster seat, she hopped out and ran up the driveway to beat everyone else to opening the front door. Oh, she was definitely healed from her twisted ankle.

He had everyone pick up where they left on with the cleaning. The house was well on its way to looking normal again. Rio went to check on Beth.

She was still out cold.

At least her fever went down by one degree though. And now that he knew she had food poisoning, he could better plan her treatment.

It was starting to get late and Rio expected the kids to start asking about dinner soon. He was glad to see Beth had her fridge well-stocked. He pulled out some vegetables, chicken, and a bag of rice. Chicken soup for everyone, including Beth with maybe some plain rice if her stomach could handle it.

And yes, it was the middle of summer and he hated it when his mom would make him eat soup during the hottest days of the year, but Beth could only handle some chicken broth and plain rice right now. He was not about to cook two whole different meals.

As he was cutting up the chicken, Jane and Marcus came and sat across from where he worked.

“What are you making?” Marcus asked.

“Chicken soup.”

Both kids groaned.

“Too bad.” The knife landed heavily on the counter as he chopped through a bone in the chicken. “Don’t want it, then don’t eat.”

He looked up at them as he began separating all the chicken he cut and placing it into a pot. “You two finish cleaning?”

Jane nodded.

Rio looked past them to see Danny and Kenny still working on getting the slime off the walls and Emma mopping up the floors of the mud. “You two gonna help me bathe the dog then here in a lil’ bit.”

“Can we play with the water hose?” Jane asked with a hopeful grin.

Rio considered it. It was summer, it was hot, and they were little kids. But then there was the problem of creating more mud and tracking in water when they were all done.

They were almost done getting the house clean.

“We’ll see.”

They stayed there in the kitchen with him, watching as he cooked and asking him questions. Rio preferred this. Who knows what kind of mess they would create if they were left to roam around the house.

When he finally had everything together in the pot and just waiting for it to cook, Rio ushered Jane and Marcus outside. The two kids corralled the dog towards the deck while Rio grabbed the hose, the sprayer attachment, and dog shampoo. He also went ahead and brought a pair of scissors with him. They were out of vinegar and Rio didn’t see any other easier way to get the slime out. Besides, it was better to have a dog with an uneven haircut than a child.

Buddy (Rio wondered who decided to give the dog that name) liked bath time well enough to actually sit still. Jane was in charge of hosing Buddy down while he and Marcus worked on scrubbing out all the mud and slime, with the occasional clump of hair having to be cut.

In hindsight, Rio should’ve known better than to give Jane the hose. She was only six. Her impulse control wasn’t all that developed yet. And she had already stated that she wanted to play in the water.

Rio dropped the brush he’d been using in the bucket of soapy water. After three washes, he figured Buddy was officially clean. “A’ight, give him one last rinse,” Rio told Jane.

And Jane turned the sprayer back on. But missed Buddy completely and ended up soaking Rio.

Rio inhaled sharply at the shock of the water hitting his face, then began coughing and spluttering because of the water going into his mouth and nose. He jumped up, then the water cut off. He held his hands up, staring down at his drenched clothing, then to Jane.

Jane was grinning, but then that grin slowly started fading. And she lowered the water hose and looked unsure with just the tiniest bit of fear.

Rio didn’t like that look on her face.

So he reached over, took the hose from her and sprayed her down. “Oh yeah? Take that!”

Jane squealed and started laughing.

Marcus was laughing too, having taken several steps away from them.

“Oh, you think that’s funny?” Rio asked as he changed his target and began soaking Marcus.

His laughter grew as he called out unconvincingly, “Daddy, stop!”

He turned to blast Jane with more water, but she had moved. Then he felt a stream of water hitting the back of his head and heard Jane giggling. He spun around to see that she had run off to grab water guns.

Marcus ran and grabbed one, joining Jane in their attack on him. And even though Rio still held the water hose, he was the one getting more wet.

Only because Rio was giving them a chance at fighting back.

But then the other three kids came outside after hearing all the screaming and laughing and Kenny actually managed to come out with his arms full of water balloons.

Now Rio was spraying them all down as they threw water balloons at him and shot him with their water guns. He chased them around the yard, soaking them and laughing as they retaliated with the dog running happily behind them, barking and getting full of mud all over again.

Inside the house though, no one realized that Beth had come out of her room. Bleary eyed, she stumbled to the kitchen and grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge. She heard all the laughing and screaming and looked out the window.

Her kids, Rio, Marcus, and Buddy, were running around the backyard engaged in water battle.

Beth swayed a little on her feet as she blinked a few times. “Oh God, I’m hallucinating,” she mumbled as she struggled to open the bottle of Gatorade and made her way back to her room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all...you have no idea how blessed y'all are...three updates in three days??? That's a record for me 😅 But I just love writing this story and I'm so glad everyone's enjoying it and all of your lovely comments just make me so happy! Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

The water battle had been a spur of the moment idea. Especially considering that Jane was the one to initiate it in the first place. And while Rio prided himself on being prepared for any kind of situation, he was not prepared for this one.

Because he was now drenched and full of mud and did not have a change of clothes. For him _or_ Marcus, unless he wanted Marcus back into his baseball uniform. At the very least, Marcus could borrow clothes from Jane or Danny, but him? His only option was to borrow clothes from Beth or go all the way to his loft to grab a change of clothes.

And the idea of loading up all the kids again to go somewhere made his skin crawl.

Nope. He would just have to borrow clothes from Beth while he put his and Marcus’ clothes to wash. Well, he should probably wash all the kids clothes to since they were all muddy and wet too.

Running around with the five of them wore him out. Yeah, he would run around with Marcus at the park or in his mom’s backyard during one of their many family events, and he could deal with it. But with _five_?

It was like they fed off of each other, creating this never-ending energy pool. Shit, how did Beth do it?

He finally managed to settle them all down, enough to bathe the dog again and to hang out on the deck while the evening sun dried them off. At least to the point where they wouldn’t be dripping.

Rio went inside before them, grimacing as he pulled off his wet shoes and socks. The soup was just about done, hot and ready to be eaten. Rio considered turning the soup down to a simmer so that the kids could shower and eat at the dining table with clean faces and dry pajamas.

But there were five of them. Who knows how long it would take for them to all shower?

They were just going to have to eat their chicken soup outside and Rio was already mentally preparing himself to ignore their complaints about eating something so hot outside during the summer.

He watched them from the kitchen window while he served them, making sure none of them got the great idea to jump out into the mud again. At least the older three looked like they were just as tired as Rio.

Marcus and Jane though? They were still running around and chasing each other. On the deck of course.

He went back outside, balancing three bowls of chicken soup and set them on the picnic table on the deck. “Come and eat,” he announced.

“We have to eat soup _outside_?” Danny asked.

And the complaints were officially beginning.

Rio ignored them, going back inside to serve the remaining two bowls.

Begrudgingly, they were all sitting at the table and blowing the steam off the soup.

“Can we have something to drink too?” Kenny asked as he filled his spoon with soup and let it drip back into the bowl.

“I’ll bring out some water, but first I gotta check up on your mom.”

“But isn’t there Sprite in the fridge? Can we have some of that?” Danny asked with hopeful eyes.

“Nope. No soda.”

Several protests rose up and even Marcus joined the protests. But Rio shot him a quick look and he ducked his head with an innocent smile.

“No. Soda,” Rio repeated once more before going back inside, despite their arguments as to why they should be allowed to have soda.

Rio served a bowl full of broth and added some rice to it. He let it sit on the counter to cool down while he went to Beth’s room to see if she was awake enough to eat and to find some clothes to change into.

Sure enough, Beth was awake. Or at least halfway. She was lying on her side, her eyes half open as she stared at nothing in particular.

“Hey mama, you awake?”

Beth’s eyes slowly dragged over to Rio. She blinked a few times before shutting them and letting out a moan.

Rio walked up to her and pressed a hand to her forehead. Still too warm. He hummed softly in disappointment. “Can’t seem to shake this fever, huh?”

Then he noticed the new bottle of Gatorade on her nightstand. He had only brought her one. When had she gotten up to grab it?

He then went to her drawers, searching through them for some clothes that might work for him. “Think you can eat somethin’?”

Beth moaned in response.

Rio chuckled. “I know, mama, but you gotta put something in your stomach now.” He pulled out a pair of sweatpants. Juicy was written right on the ass. But at this point, it seemed like the only pair that might actually fit his slim figure.

He kicked off his pants, which was harder than expected since they were still wet and were sticking to him. “Answer me this though. Why’d you decide to eat anything your sister made? Even her own kid knows better than to eat anything she cooks.”

“Mmm, smelled good…” Beth grumbled.

Rio picked out a shirt at random. A logo for a preschool covered the front and on the back a list of names. He spotted Kenny’s name on the list before pulling it over his head. He looked for some socks and could not understand why she owned so many patterned and colored socks. What was wrong with just plain white and black?

He settled on black socks with white and yellow polka dots. “I’m gonna be right back with some food, yeah?”

Beth opened her eyes to stare at him again. She lifted a weak hand and pointed at him. “You’re not real,” she croaked out.

Rio chuckled and shook his head. “If that’s what you wanna’ believe.”

He left the room and grabbed the bowl, giving the kitchen window a quick rap and motioning for the kids to eat. Some of them let their heads fall back and Rio correctly assumed they were groaning loudly.

Beth hadn’t moved at all when he came into the room. Which wasn’t surprising. He set the bowl of broth on the nightstand, then moved to help her sit up, propping up pillows behind her. Before actually handing her the bowl, he went into the restroom and grabbed the trashcan.

Just in case.

“You gonna feed yourself or you need some help?” Rio asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching as she loosely held the bowl.

“’S too hot,” she slurred.

Rio smirked. “Just like your kids.” He took the bowl back and scooped up some broth and a few grains of rice. He blew it softly for a few seconds, then looked up when he heard Beth giggling.

“Somethin’ funny?” he asked, lowering the spoon a little.

Beth just kept smiling at him, then shook her head. “I am really sick.”

“Yes you are. Now open up.”

Beth opened her mouth and Rio fed her the broth and rice. She swallowed, then grimaced a little.

“Still too hot?” Rio asked, stirring the broth while blowing it.

“’M not hungry.”

“Gotta get some nutrients in you though. You can’t just live off of water and Gatorade.” He scooped up some more and fed it to her.

Beth let out a small whine that sounded exactly like Jane.

“Or I can take you to a hospital. They’ll stick an IV in you and give you no privacy and then you’ll be left with a huge bill too.”

Beth shook her head at the idea.

“Okay then, open up.”

She ate another spoonful of broth and rice.

Beth ate probably five more bites, before her face scrunched up. “Don’t feel good…”

Rio acted quickly, switching out the bowl for the trashcan. She gripped it tightly, while he held back her hair and threw up a combination of the broth and Gatorade.

Beth leaned back once she was done and let out moan. “’M so tired.”

“I know, mami.” He brushed back some of her hair, pressing his hand against her forehead. “Why don’t you take a nice shower? I’ll put some fresh sheets on your bed and you can take some medicine and go back to sleep.”

“Gotta get up bright and early to meet Rio tomorrow,” she said as Rio helped her stand up.

“Sure you do. Now come on. You’ll feel a whole lot better once you shower.” He guided her to the bathroom and watched as she stood on unsteady feet and began undressing. He turned on the shower valves, making sure the water was warm enough. He pursed his lips and watched as she struggled to get her shirt off. “You gonna need help, Elizabeth?”

Beth let her head fall back and groaned. “It’s too hard.”

Aw, hell.

Rio guided her to sit on the edge of the bathtub. “I’m gonna help you, okay.”

Beth nodded.

Rio slipped her pajamas off easily. Then he unclasped her bra and slipped off her underwear.

He stepped back and blew out a heavy breath. Elizabeth Boland, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, completely naked. Just as beautiful as the last time he saw her like this. Except maybe even more because there was nothing shy about her. She wasn’t trying to demurely cover herself up or insist on grabbing her bathrobe when she finally got out of bed.

But Rio knew this was all because she was sick enough to not even realize she was naked.

He let out another deep breath then helped her back up, his hands landing on her waist. Even before his hands could touch her, he could feel the heat radiating off of her. He directed her to the shower and turned down the hot water just a little.

“I’ll be right back to get you some fresh clothes.”

For half a moment, Rio wondered if it was okay to leave Beth alone. Would she end up slipping somehow or just stand under the water in a daze?

But then he could see her reaching for the shampoo, almost by muscle memory, and begin lathering up her hair.

He could’ve watched her for a while longer, but he still had to change the sheets, clean up the small mess she just made, make sure the kids were eating, and actually get a bowl of chicken soup for himself too.

He took out the bag in the trashcan and carried the half-eaten bowl of soup back to the kitchen. Outside, the kids were eating, chattering on about whatever it was. Marcus saw him through the window and smile broadly and began waving. Jane looked up too and began waving too with her toothy grin.

Then all the kids were waving at them and Kenny began making motions of wanting something to drink.

Right. These kids couldn’t get up and serve themselves water.

He opened the window a little and called for Kenny and Emma to come inside really quick.

They walked in just as Rio was pulling down five glasses. “A’ight, you two gonna take out the water to everyone else.

And they blinked at him in slight confusion before actually filling up the cups. It left Rio wondering if Beth really did everything for these kids.

He was going to have to talk to her about handing off some responsibility to them. And while they served the water, Rio served himself a bowl of the chicken soup, took a quick bite. He hissed, burning his tongue, then mentally cursed at how hot it still was.

“When you finish eating, come back inside and start the shower line.” Rio called out to Emma and Kenny as he left his bowl on the counter to cool down.

He went to the mudroom to pull out some fresh sheets Beth stored there. The shower was still going when Rio walked into the bedroom and stripped off the old sheets. He poked his head into the bathroom, just to make sure she was okay.

Beth was now washing down her body and taking her time while doing so. Rio reminded himself she was sick though and there were five kids just down the hall that were barely containing themselves.

He made the bed with the new clean sheets and just as he kicked the old sheets into a corner to throw in the washer later, he heard the kitchen door open and close, followed by dishes clattering, pounding footsteps and the TV turning on. He was going to have to go out there and make sure someone was in the shower.

That would have to wait though because he heard the water in Beth’s bathroom turn off.

He opened her drawers, pulled out a pair of light pajamas and some panties for her. He couldn’t help but notice that almost all of her panties were practical. White, beige, or black. At the very bottom though was a pair of red lingerie and another turquoise. Except the turquoise was just the bra. And Rio’s mind immediately went back to that bathroom in the bar and the matching turquoise panties he left with, stuffed into his back pocket.

“Rio! Kenny won’t change it from wrestling! No one wants to watch wrestling except for him!”

Emma’s voice yelling through the house pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Someone better be in the shower by the time I get back out there!” Rio yelled in response.

There wasn’t a reply to that.

Rio took Beth’s clothes and went back into the bathroom. She sat on the edge of the bathtub again, a towel wrapped around her this time, as she brushed her teeth slowly.

He set the clothes down by the sink and leaned in the doorway. “Feelin’ better?”

She looked up at him with a squint. “Don’t think so,” she spoke around the toothbrush.

He went up to her to check her forehead again. It definitely cooled down, but still too warm. “The shower seemed like it lowered your fever finally.”

Beth took out her toothbrush and stared at him. “You’re still here.”

Rio smirked. “Yeah, you think I was gonna leave you to handle those four kids of yours while you’re this?”

Beth frowned, then got up, unsteadily, but on her own. She rinsed out her mouth and then proceeded to stare at him through the mirror.

Rio couldn’t help his eyes wandering. The towel just barely covered her ass, with water still dripping down her legs. Her eyes were hooded as she stared at him.

And for just a moment, his breath caught in this throat.

Fuck, when did he get in this deep?

Then she swayed and Rio quickly moved to steady her. “Think you can handle changin’?”

Beth shook her head. “My arms are too heavy.”

So Rio unwrapped the towel from her, drying off spots where he could still see water droplets, constantly reminding himself that the door was still open and five kids were out in the living room and she was sick.

He bent down and held open her panties. She grabbed onto his shoulders to balance herself as she stepped into them and he did the same for her pajama pants.

As he clasped the bra on her, he realized this was his first time ever helping a woman get dressed. Of course, there were multiple occasions where he helped _undress_ them. But this…it was different.

And he felt more breathless than the first time she had invited him to her bedroom after saying she was out of bread.

He brushed back some of her damp hair, taking notice of just how warm she still felt. “Ready for bed?”

She nodded, turning to lean on him as he helped her out of the bathroom and into her bed. He had her sit up for just a moment longer to take some more of her medicine, then he let her lay down, covering her with only the sheet and letting the comforter stay bunched up at her feet.

Rio sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, watching her stare at him. “You don’t even think I’m real, do you?” he finally said.

Beth laughed. “’Cause you’re not.”

Rio opened his mouth with a response, but then there was another scream. But this time, the disgust was clear.

He closed his eyes and groaned.

And Beth was starting to move. “Have to check…”

“Nu uh.” Rio settled her back down. “You get some sleep. I’ll take care of it.” Just like he had been doing for the majority of the day. He made sure she wasn’t going to get up again, before turning off the lamp on the nightstand and leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

He walked out into the hallway just in time to see Danny running down the stairs a furious look on his face. He saw Rio and pointed to the living room, directly at Emma who was deliberately not turning around, unlike the other kids. “Do you know what Emma did?!”

No. Rio really did not want to know what Emma did. But he was sure he didn’t have a choice in the matter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is definitely longer than what I normally post, but I just couldn't find a good spot to break it up, so yeah. You lovely readers get an extra long chapter this time! Thanks so much for all the feedback as always! I love every single comment my dears! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

“She made my room smell like pickles!” Danny cried.

“What?!” This caught Kenny’s attention, as he jumped up. Because as Rio recalled, the two of them shared rooms. Meaning not only did Danny’s room smell like pickles, but so did Kenny’s. “Why’d you do that for?!”

“Because Danny put slime in my hair and then Rio had to wash it out with vinegar and I went to the store smelling like pickles!” Emma yelled back in Kenny’s face.

“But I said sorry!”

“You said it too late!”

“All right, enough!” Rio yelled over the three of them. “Danny, you should’ve known better than to put slime in your sister’s hair. Of course there was gonna be consequences, man! And Kenny, you see your brother or any of your family actin’ a fool, you just gonna sit around and ignore them? Nah, you gotta do somethin’ about it because sometimes their mistakes are gonna’ affect you! Like right now.”

Kenny and Danny stared at Rio.

“But Emma-!”

“Imma ‘bout to go up there and check that room, and Emma darlin’, you best pray there’s no permanent damage. I already talked with you ‘bout that.”

He turned around and began walking up the stairs, then stopped when he heard spluttered laughter from _all_ of them.

“What?” he ground out.

And even though Danny and Kenny had both been upset enough to yell just seconds ago, they were now suppressing smiles, as were the others.

“You’ve got juicy on your butt, Daddy,” Marcus said through laughter he was trying to hold back.

And as soon as Marcus made his announcement, they all burst into laughter.

Rio scrubbed a hand down his face, amazed by how the mood could so quickly change simply because of some writing on his ass. He shook his head, then kept going up the stairs.

They were still laughing at him, but then there was also a pair of footsteps that had come up behind him, followed by more. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that all five of them had decided they were going to join Rio in his inspection of Danny and Kenny’s room.

As they walked closer and closer to the room, the smell of vinegar grew stronger. Rio crossed into the room while the kids stayed in the doorway.

_Everything_ smelled like vinegar.

On top of the dresser, was an empty spray bottle and a note.

‘DON’T EVER MESS UP MY HAIR AGAIN!!!!!!!!!’ was scrawled on the paper in purple marker with a huge angry face.

Rio looked at the spray bottle and assumed Emma had filled it with the rest of the vinegar. Then, she must’ve sprayed it on every single surface of their room.

And the room smelled horrible.

“Well, no permanent damage. Emma, you off the hook.”

“But-!”

Rio interrupted Danny’s protests. “And maybe next time, you’ll think twice about doin’ somethin’ like that to her or to _anyone_.”

“I’m not going to sleep in here.” Kenny said as he crossed his arms.

Rio shook his head, turning to open the window to air out the smell. “Don’t blame you. Grab your stuff. You’ll sleep in the living room tonight.”

“Can we use our sleeping bags?” Danny asked, way more excited to be sleeping in the living room than Rio expected.

“If you want to…”

Danny and Kenny exchanged a high five then ran into the room. They grabbed comic books and flashlights and toys and acting for all the world as if they were about to go on a camping trip.

Rio walked out of the room and smirked at the frown on Emma’s face. “Hey, it was a good plan and you didn’t permanently damage anythin’.”

“But I wanted him to be more mad about it.”

“Okay, so if he did get more mad 'bout it, then what do you think he might’ve done? And that ain't just Danny’s room you sprayed down. It’s Kenny’s room too. Think they would’ve let you get away with it if they got as mad as you wanted?”

Emma shook her head.

Rio ruffled her hair a little. “Gotta learn to pick your battles, lil’ mama.”

Then he clapped his hands and grabbed their attention. “If someone ain’t in that shower in five seconds, I’m gonna make everyone get up before the sun and go runnin’ at the park.”

There was a mad scramble as they tried to decide who would go firt and who had their pajamas ready to go. Kenny was finally the one to claim the first shower within the five seconds Rio grave them.

Rio headed back downstairs with the rest of the kids following him, choosing to ignore their whispers of ‘juicy’ and ‘butt’ as he walked in front of them.

* * *

Emma and Danny were tasked with cleaning up the kitchen. Well, to just wash the dishes actually. They were still too short to clean the counters and he could imagine the mess they would make as they put away the leftover chicken soup. He would take care of the rest once he finally ate his own bowl of soup.

And as he took his official second bite, his face scrunched up. Now, it was cold. He popped it into the microwave for a few minutes, before finally sitting down to enjoy his dinner.

After Kenny showered, he sent Emma up. And they went by age until Marcus was the last one that needed to shower.

“But I don’t have any clothes here,” Marcus said with a frown.

“I know, that’s why you gotta ask one of your buddies if you can borrow some of theirs.”

He chose to ask Jane, as she was the one closest to him in size, even if she had an inch or two on him.

“Yeah! And Aunt Ruby accidentally gave me a pair of pajamas I already have, but I kept them because they’re green with purple and pink unicorns and you can wear that one and I’ll change into the other one and then we’ll be matching like twins!”

Jane pulled him upstairs and the last child was officially on his way to getting showered.

Rio finished cleaning up the kitchen and set a pot of water to boil. He had found some chamomile tea and damn right he was about to drink some after the day he had.

He sat on the overstuffed chair, propping his feet up on the ottoman. The Boland kids were crammed on the big sofa, watching _How to Train Your Dragon_.

Rio preferred the sequel, but the first one was pretty good too.

He pulled out his phone, checking it for the first time since arriving at the Boland household. There were dozens of text messages and several missed calls. He internally groaned as he read through them before deeming that none of them were too urgent. Besides, with five kids in tow, he couldn’t necessarily handle things personally.

He sent Bullet a quick message saying he had been out today and would be out for sure tomorrow. Anything serious come up, Bullet would be in charge of deciding what to do.

Under _no_ circumstances was Rio to be disturbed.

Then he put his phone on silent and sipped his tea while watching the movie.

Marcus finally came downstairs, dressed in the matching pajamas with Jane, and Rio set down his tea just in time to catch him as he launched himself at Rio.

Rio adjusted him in his lap, but Marcus squirmed around until his feet were in Rio’s face.

“Smell my feet!” Marcus demanded with a proud smile.

Rio backed his head up, trying to get Marcus’ feet out of his face. “I don’t wanna’ smell your nasty feet!”

“But I washed them really good!”

“I sure hope you did. Wearin’ shoes with no socks on. Man, who even raised you?”

Marcus giggled. “You did. Now smell my feet!”

“A’ight, fine.” Rio grabbed one of Marcu’s feet, gave it a quick tickle, then brought the foot up to his nose. They smelled clean, but Marcus didn’t need to know that.

Instead, Rio faked a gagged. “Oh God. Oh man…Marcus…that’s…I’m gonna pass out…they smell so bad…”

Then he closed his eyes, let his head fall back and his body slump.

Marcus kept laughing. “Daddy! My feet don’t smell!”

But Rio didn’t move.

Marcus shook him. “Daaaadddddyyyy, open your eyes!”

Still Rio didn’t move.

“Did he really pass out?” Jane asked quietly.

Marcus laughed, but Rio could pick up the slight worry in his tone. “No, he always does this to me.”

He heard movement from the couch and then felt a finger poke his face.

He did not move.

“Is he dead?” Danny asked.

“No!” Marcus huffed. Then he shook Rio some. “Okay, Daddy. You can stop being silly now.’

Nope. He wasn’t going to move. Not yet.

“Maybe you should’ve washed your feet better,” Emma threw in.

“I did wash my feet good! They don’t smell!” A twinge of desperation entered Marcus’ voice.

“I know this one kid in my class who had a cousin that passed out after opening a freezer that hadn’t been plugged in for months and was full of meat.”

Aside from the movie playing in the background, the living room was silent. And Rio could _feel_ the tension in the room.

“Daddy?”

Rio shot his eyes open with a roar and attacked Marcus’ belly with tickles.

Both Marcus and Jane screamed.

“Ahh! Daddy! Stop!” Marcus exclaimed through his breathless laughter. “Help me!”

Jane grabbed a pillow and began hitting Rio with it, laughing and demanding he let go of Marcus.

“You some want too, lil’ bit?” Rio released Marcus, but only to grab Jane and squeeze his fingers into her sides until she was laughing as breathlessly as Marcus.

Then Danny threw a pillow in his face and Emma got up to repeatedly hit him with another pillow. Kenny had even grabbed onto Jane’s legs and was trying to pull her out of Rio’s grip.

Rio let go of Jane and grabbed one of the pillows that had been thrown at him. He swung it in a wide arc, trying to hit all of them at once.

But then the pillow was torn from his grasp and before Rio knew it, he was overpowered and could do nothing but hold up his arms to protect his face.

“Man, you guys are fightin’ dirty!” Rio exclaimed.

They responded by laughing even more.

He finally stood and grabbed Marcus, using him as a human shield.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Jane exclaimed as she lowered her pillow.

“You’re right.” Rio looked over Marcus’ shoulder at them. “But good for you for not taking a hit at your friend. Now, we got a truce or what?”

The kids exchanged glances before dropping their pillows. And as soon as all the pillows were dropped, Rio gently tossed Marcus down into the chair he had just gotten up from. “As soon as that movie’s over, it’s bedtime for everyone.”

Complaints rose up, but Rio couldn’t understand why. The movie was still in the beginning act where Hiccup hadn’t even named the dragon yet.

He grabbed his empty mug and rinsed it out to put it in the dishwasher. He gave a quick glance over the first floor, making sure there weren’t any stray dishes he missed, before he turned the dishwasher on. Then he mixed some mop water and went over the floors again. Kenny and Emma had already mopped the floor, but Rio had seen how they mopped and could still see spots of mud on the floor.

And of course there was still the laundry to take care of.

He grabbed a basket from the mudroom and went to the upstairs bathroom to gather the piled up clothes, then back downstairs for his own clothes and the sheets he had left in Beth’s room.

Beth didn’t even twitch or give any indication that she heard him in her sleep.

Rio closed the door softly behind him and went to the mudroom, laundry basket balanced on his hip and avoiding the wet mop trail on the floor.

Halfway through separating the clothes, he heard a pair of feet padding softly towards him. He looked up to see Marcus approaching.

“Was the floor still wet?” Rio asked, glancing past Marcus to see if he had decided to walk across the drying floor.

Marcus grimaced and shrugged his shoulders just as Rio saw his footprints on the wet floor.

“Aw, come on, pop. We talked about this. Wait until the floor is dry before walking on it.” Rio bent down to pick him up set him on top of the dryer. “Anytime me or one of your tio’s walked on the floors while your abuela was mopping, she’d make us go back and mop it _twice_. Be grateful I ain’t like that.” He flicked Marcus’ nose gently before turning his attention back to the clothes.

“Are we going to spend the night here?”

Rio looked at him, starting to put in the dark clothes in the washer. Beth was still way too sick and he wasn’t about to leave these four kids to their own devices now. “Yeah, we are. Miss Elizabeth still ain’t feelin’ good and can’t watch her kids herself.”

Marcus pursed his lips and nodded, looking down at his swinging feet.

Rio paused and stood directly in front of Marcus. He knew exactly what was going on in that little brain of his. Rio hadn’t given him too much attention today. And it wasn’t that Marcus was some kid that always demanded full attention. But he was an only-child and usually on the days Rio had Marcus, the entire evening was dedicated to him. Teaching him, playing with him, listening to him, and trying his best to be a good dad for him.

So his behavior right now was not at all surprising him. But Marcus had to understand that Rio’s attention for the moment was a bit divided.

“That okay with you?” Rio asked. “If you don’t want to stay here, I can go drop you off with your mom. But I gotta stay here, pop, since no one else is here that can watch ‘em.”

“No, I’ll stay here with you.” Marcus looked up at him again.

“Good. ‘Cause I don’t think I could handle all those crazies in there without your help.” Rio hunched over just a little to stand at eye level with Marcus. He spoke as if he were trying to keep a big secret.

Marcus giggled. “They are kind of crazy.”

Rio smiled and ruffled his hair before continuing to put the clothes in the washer. “Hey, you never told me how the rest of baseball practice went. You pay’ attention this time when the coach put you out on the field?”

* * *

_Finally_, the movie ended and in between all that time, he finished washing the clothes, gave Jane some warm milk, stopped Kenny from rummaging around the kitchen for snacks, and stole quality time with Marcus. At least Danny and Emma hadn't required too much attention. And he was glad considering they had taken up a good majority of his time today with the slime and vinegar fiasco.

Rio grabbed the remote and turned off the TV as soon as the credits started rolling. "Time for bed!" He couldn't remember the last time he was this excited to make any kind of announcement.

Complaints rose up and Rio would've been surprised if they hadn’t. But they were half-hearted, considering they were actually exhausted from the day.

Good, Rio thought. Maybe that would mean he’d get some sleep tonight.

He sent them all upstairs to brush their teeth, Marcus taking one of the new toothbrushes Beth kept stored under the sink. He and Kenny moved the coffee table out of the living room since him and Danny had to sleep in the living room too because of Emma’s revenge.

Rio wasn’t sure how all the sleeping arrangements were going to work out, but he sure as hell was _not_ sleeping on the floor. He might still be young, but he knew what a night on the floor would do to his back. He was taking the couch and if any of the other kids thought to claim it, they were definitely going to get kicked off.

He had Kenny and Danny lay out their sleeping bags on the floor and in the remaining space he piled up several blankets he found for Marcus. With flashlights and comic books and action figures, the three boys made themselves comfortable while Rio went upstairs to put Emma and Jane into bed.

Jane, of course, required her dubby to be securely placed into her arms and a bedtime story read to her. Naturally, Emma was old enough not need a bedtime story, which she made sure to make clear to Rio.

Rio didn’t mention it when her head was titled just slightly to bring her ear closer to where Rio was sitting on Jane’s bed and reading her the picture book.

He turned the lights off and left their bedroom door open just a crack at Jane’s insistence. Downstairs, the boys were still with their comic books and flashlights, despite the lamp on the end table still turned on.

Rio was ready to sleep. He turned off the lamp and collapsed on to the couch, fluffing up one of the pillows for his head. “Time for bed. Turn off those flashlights.”

“Aw, but can we read one more comic book?”

“What if we make sure it doesn’t shine in your eyes?”

“Please Daddy?”

“Nope. Time for bed. Good night.” Rio rolled over, his back facing them and closed his eyes. He could hear their whispering and muffled laughter, but before he knew it, Rio didn’t hear anything else.

The next time he opened his eyes, he saw a figure standing at the other end of the couch.

Rio inhaled sharply and jumped at the sight.

“Rio?”

He rubbed his face, trying to wipe away any remaining sleep. “What are you doin’ up, Jane?” he whispered to not wake up the sleeping boys.

“Rio, I…” Jane rubbed her eyes. “It’s because…”

She wasn’t rubbing her eyes because she was sleepy. Well, maybe she was sleepy, but the main reason why she rubbed her eyes was to dry off tears.

“Hey, what’s the matter, mama? You have a bad dream?” Rio whispered, getting up to kneel down in front of her.

More tears pooled in her eyes. “I wet the bed.”

Rio hung his head, knowing he was about to lose an hour of sleep. “Hey, it’s gonna be all right. We can fix that, okay?”

Jane nodded, still rubbing away a few tears.

Rio gave her an encouraging smile as he lightly pinched her chin. Then he ushered her back upstairs. They went towards the room she shared with Emma, but Jane hovered in the doorway. Rio pulled out a fresh pair of pajamas and some clean underwear for her.

“You go take a shower and I’ll take care of the bed.”

Jane took the clothes from him and nodded. But she didn’t move from her spot.

“Come on, mama. Don’t you want to go back to sleep?”

“Yeah, but…” She huffed and her lower lip began trembling even more.

“Hey, it’s all right.” Rio crouched down again and rubbed her arms gently. “It was an accident. No harm done.”

But then her face scrunched up and more tears than before started falling from her eyes. “It’s because then I’m not going to be twins with Marcus anymore.”

Rio knew Jane saw this as a very serious problem. But it took everything in him to not throw his head back and laugh. Because of course that would be her main concern right now. In the middle of the night after peeing her bed.

“How about this? You just change your pants since your shirt’s still good. That way you’ll at least be half matching.”

Jane weighed her options before finally nodding.

Rio turned her around and nudged her towards the bathroom. He watched her until she closed the door to the bathroom behind her. Then he got up to change out the sheets.

The bed had a huge puddle and Rio already imagined it seeping into the mattress and that was a whole other mess to clean up and he was so sleepy but he couldn’t just leave the mess.

Thankfully, when he took off the sheets, he saw there was an absorbent pad between the sheet and the mattress. It was similar to what he had on Marcus’ bed at his apartment. Just throw it in the washer along with the sheets and it was good as new without any stains to the mattress.

He carried the sheets and absorbent pad down to the mudroom and threw them into he washer. And since he was washing these sheets anyways, he went ahead and put in Beth’s sheets too. In the linen closet, he found a set of purple sheets with pink and blue hearts.

By the time Rio remade the bed, Jane was shuffling back into the bedroom, mismatched pajamas on.

“Got you some nice clean sheets,” he said as he patted the bed for her to climb into.

But Jane stayed in her spot, looking from the bed to Rio.

“Come on, Jane. You’re tired. I’m tired. It’s time to get back in bed.”

“It’s because whenever I wet the bed, Mommy lets me sleep with her the rest of the night.”

Rio pursed his lips. God, no, she could not be asking what he thought she was asking. “But your mama’s really sick right now. You can’t sleep with her tonight.”

Jane shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Well…can I sleep downstairs?”

Okay, so not as bad as he thought. “All right. I’ll make Marcus scoot over and-“

“No, on the couch. With you.”

Nope. Definitely as bad as he thought.

“Please?”

And she made her blue eyes even bigger and Rio imagined this was exactly how Beth looked like when she was little and her eyes were pooling with tears again.

He could say no. He could turn her away, make her sleep in her own bed and he could sleep on the couch without giving it a second thought or even feeling a trace of guilt.

Rio reassured himself of all those things as he picked her up, carrying her downstairs with him.

He could say no without hesitation, but it was his conscious decision to _not_ say no.

Once downstairs, he saw a tiny tuft of hair from behind the couch. He held his breath and hoped that maybe it was just a shadow he was seeing.

When he moved around the couch though, he saw Marcus sitting right in the middle, half-asleep.

“Pop, what are you doin’ up?” Rio whispered, setting Jane down on the couch as well.

Marcus’ eyes followed his movements. “I woke up and you were gone. I thought you left.”

“I just had to go take care of somethin’ real quick. But I didn’t leave. I wouldn’t leave you like that.”

Jane shifted and looked down at her mismatched pajamas. “We’re only half twins now,” she mumbled.

Marcus looked at her with a frown, as if trying to figure out how that related to the conversation at all.

“Go back to sleep, Marcus.”

“Where’s Jane going to sleep?”

“On the couch.” Jane answered.

“But where’s my daddy going to sleep then?”

“On the couch too. He’s going to let me sleep with him because I…” Jane trailed off, then shrugged her shoulders.

Marcus frowned at her. “But he’s _my _daddy.”

Jane blinked at him a few times, his response surprising her. “Well _my_ mommy’s sick.”

Rio groaned and rubbed his face. It was too late or early or whatever to be dealing with this right now. “Marcus, go back to sleep already.”

“But…” A little whine grew in the back of his throat. “It’s ‘cause your my daddy and I love you.” His voice began to tremble with building tears.

“Please don’t make me go back upstairs, Rio.” Jane’s voice trembled as well.

And there was no way Rio was going to deal with two crying six year old’s when the sun wasn’t even up yet.

“Okay fine!” Rio hissed, not wanting any of the other kids to wake up. “You can both sleep on the couch with me. Just…” he shooed them to opposite ends of the couch and he sat in the middle. “There, now you both get to sleep here on the couch with me.”

Neither hesitated in getting comfortable, both their heads fitting into his lap. Marcus reached up and grabbed his hand, holding it loosely.

Not even two minutes later were they both fast asleep. And Rio was stuck, sitting up on the couch.

He did his best to find a comfortable position, slouching down until his neck finally hit the back of the couch to support his head as he leaned it back. Damn, his neck was going to hurt in the morning.

Once Rio was finally dozing off, he heard more footsteps that brought him out of his slumber. He lifted his head to see Emma wander in, a frown on her face and her shoulders tense. She rubbed her eyes and squinted in the dark room. Then her eyes wandered on Jane and she relaxed. Instead of going back upstairs though, she took Marcus’ previous spot on the floor.

Steady breathing surrounded him. Rio closed his eyes and attempted to find the rest he would need once the sun was up.

* * *

Beth felt her stomach clenching. She curled in on herself, but it wouldn’t stop. She rolled over to look at the clock on her nightstand. It was just after four in the morning. She groaned trying to sit up, but then felt the room spinning.

If she had any food in her stomach, she was sure it all would’ve come up.

She was so thirsty though. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and finally got up. She grabbed her phone to use as a flashlight as she padded down the hallway.

As she passed the living room to the kitchen, she paused right behind the couch. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes.

She wasn’t sure if what she was seeing before her was real.

Rio was sitting in the middle of the couch, his head thrown back and mouth opened slightly as he snored softly in his sleep. Jane was curled up next to him, on the other side was Marcus (the two of them in matching pajama tops), and Emma, Danny, and Kenny were asleep on the floor.

Damnit, this was another hallucination, wasn’t it? Beth swayed a little as she waited for the image to disappear.

It never did.

But there was _no way_ it could be real.

So she decided to take a picture because then she would see the living room and _only_ the living room.

The flash went off, but none of the ghosts she saw flinched.

She went to the kitchen for a glass of water, all the while staring at the picture.

They were still there.

She looked from the living room to the picture, then back to the living room, then to the picture but felt a wave of nausea and had to grip the kitchen counter to steady herself. She drank half the cup of water, then stumbled back to her bedroom, not bothering to check the living room again.

She sank into her bed and stared at the picture some more. Then she decided to send it Ruby because Ruby would tell her the truth. She’d tell her there was nothing there and she was just imaging things.

Beth wasn’t sure if she had fallen asleep, but the next time she looked at the clock it was five. And the only reason why she was looking was because her phone was buzzing loudly on the nightstand.

Nearly knocking over the clock and a picture frame to grab it, Beth answered her phone. “’lo?” she moaned.

_“B, what am I looking at? What’s going on?”_

Beth threw an arm over her eyes. “Mmm, I’m never eating Annie’s food again.”

_“What does that have anything to do with that _picture_ you sent me?!”_

“Shh…please don’t yell…”

_“Oh my God, are you hungover?”_

Beth snorted at that. No, she was definitely not hung over.

_“Beth, we are on our way to the airport right now. Our flight back home is in two hours. Do I need to go over there and check on you?”_

“God, I’m so sick Ruby…”

_“As soon as we land, I’ll have Stan take the kids home and-“_

Beth hung up and turned off her phone. She just wanted to go to sleep and wake up with her stomach not hurting and the cotton in her brain gone.


	8. Chapter 8

Rio was in a warehouse. Vinegar bottles and socks were everywhere and hundreds of faceless people were sorting them.

“Do you think he’s dead?”

He turned, looking for whoever it was they thought was dead

“Why do you always ask me that? He’s not dead! He’s just still sleeping.”

“Like that?”

He never found the dead person. Or sleeping, whichever it was. Bullet and Demon were standing next to him and talking. But the voices coming from their mouths didn’t match at all.

“Johnny likes it though because he can stretch a whole lot more.”

“Don’t be stupid. You can’t name tattoos.”

“Yes I can and his name is Johnny.”

“When is he going to get up? I’m hungry.”

“Daddy? We’re hungry.”

"What if Johnny had a friend?! I can draw him a kitty cat to play with."

The warehouse and everything inside started fading away. Rio tried grabbing on to something, but it all disappeared until it was dark. Except now it was too bright and his mouth was dry and his neck _hurt_.

He groaned, bringing a hand up to rub his eyes, then began massaging his neck. His eyes peeled open, slowly adjusting to the brightness of the sun. Five pairs of expectant eyes stared at him.

Rio sat up on the couch, wincing as he tried moving his stiff neck. He took in his surroundings and reminded himself why he had slept sitting up on the couch at Beth’s house. He cleared his throat, then asked, “What time is it?”

Kenny shrugged and answered. “Seven I think.”

Rio scrubbed his face and groaned. “Ain’t it summer vacation? Why’s everyone up so early?”

They didn’t answer him. Instead, Danny asked, “Can you make us some crepes?”

“_Crepes_? Boy, you must be outta your mind.” Rio stood up, twisting his neck and groaning again as it popped. He started walking towards the kitchen, hand still on the back of his neck as he tried working out the knots that appeared overnight. “Nah, everyone’s getting eggs.”

“I want scrambled!”

“Sunny-side up!”

“Can I have mine on a piece of toast?”

Rio stopped and turned to look at them. “Oh, I’m sorry. This look like a restaurant to you? I’m making scrambled eggs with ham. _That’s it._”

“But Mommy-!”

Rio cut off Emma. “Is sick. So unless you want to come in here and make it yourself, then everyone’s getting scrambled eggs with ham.”

None of them moved towards the kitchen.

That's what he thought.

He pulled out the carton of eggs and a package of ham to begin the process. Before all that though, he put some water to boil for black tea because it was way too early for him to dealing with all these pouts.

Both the carton of eggs and package of ham were empty by the time Rio finished putting all the ingredients together. He added a little milk and cheese into the eggs before mixing the ham in and pouring it into the warm skillet.

The eggs bubbled slowly as they cooked and he put some bread into the toaster for Beth. At least his water was ready and he finally made himself his tea, sighing contentedly as that first sip warmed his body.

The kids were in the living room watching morning cartoons. Rio was okay with it since they weren’t bothering him. But he wasn’t going to let them watch TV all day.

He was going to have to find something for them to do.

Once they cleaned up the living room again of course.

He served the eggs once they were ready and corralled the kids into the dining room. They didn’t actually start moving until Rio turned off the TV. While they ate their breakfast, Rio took the toast to Beth’s room.

She was sleeping fitfully, the blankets pushed to the end of the bed and her face scrunched up in discomfort.

It wasn't hard waking her up this time, but she was still in fevered haze. He managed to get her to swallow three bites of toast and take her medicine. Her temperature was finally under a hundred degrees. It was at 99.9 to be exact. But that was still .1 degree under and Rio was taking that as a win, even if it was still considered a fever.

“Where’s Ruby?” she asked as Rio helped her get back into a comfortable position again.

“Emma said she’s in Florida. Remember?”

Beth frowned. “Oh…I thought she was here.”

“Ain’t no one here but me and the kids.”

Beth scoffed, rolling over to her side with her back facing him. “No you’re not.”

“You’re in for a hell of a surprise later.”

She responded with a light snore.

Rio shook his head with a smirk, then left the room.

It was another win for Rio when he came out and the kids were all sitting at the dining table, calmly eating their breakfast. But then for a second, Rio thought that maybe it was because they had done something within that short amount of time he left them unsupervised.

He did a quick once over of the area, but didn’t find anything out of place.

Rio served himself a plate and sat down with them. “So what’s the plan for today?” Rio asked after swallowing down a few bites.

“Can we go to Chuckie Cheese?!”

“No, I want to go swimming!”

“Swimming! Swimming! Swimming!”

“Oh, can we please, please, _please_ go to the arcade?!”

“No to all of those,” Rio cut them off. “We ain’t leavin’ the house. I don’t wanna leave your mama alone.” It wasn’t exactly true. Beth’s fever was finally down to a low-grade fever. But he just really did _not_ want to travel anywhere with five kids in tow. He had enough yesterday and would not be leaving again unless it was an emergency.

“Can we make more slime?”

“No!” Emma and Kenny immediately rebuffed Danny’s request.

“I wanna make Mommy a get better card.”

Rio swallowed his food quickly. “Sweetheart, that’s a great idea. That’s what’s gonna happen today. Everyone’s gonna make your mom a get better card.”

“But that’s only gonna take us like five minutes.” Kenny said with a frown.

“Then you can wash the van once you finish.”

Kenny blinked. “What?”

Rio shrugged, scooping up some more eggs. “Or you can get all the laundry started. Mow the front yard. Take Buddy out for a nice long walk.”

Kenny scowled a little before mumbling. “Fine, I’ll make her a get better card.”

Rio smiled. “Good choice. But first everyone’s gonna help clean the living room.”

He almost considered it a miracle when none of them complained or protested.

* * *

All things considered, Rio didn’t know why he was so surprised it took them a whole hour to clean up the living room.

While Rio was in the kitchen with Jane and Marcus and having them help him clean up that area, Danny, Kenny, and Emma decided they were going to build a fort. Quietly, of course, because when the kitchen was finally spotless and Rio went into the living room expecting to just have to help Kenny put the coffee table back and be done, he instead saw the blankets and pillows spread out everywhere, hanging off the couch and the TV and shelves.

Rio had to admit, it was actually pretty impressive.

But his instructions had been to clean up the living room and now there was a bigger mess that they needed to clean up.

They argued with him and would not let it go until they reached a compromise.

Rio would let them stay in pajamas all day if they tore down the fort. Brushing their teeth was a non-negotiable though.

Finally, the living room was back to normal and the house was as clean as it normally was.

Rio pulled out Beth’s art supplies and spread them out over the dining table. Which, he of course covered with an old plastic table cloth he found in the kitchen. He set out glitter and glue and pompoms and all kinds of shit. He wanted these kids to stay entertained for at least another hour.

He even found a Bluetooth speaker and connected his phone to it. Because there was no way he was going to sit around doing arts and crafts with these kids without some kind of music.

“Can you please put on _Baby Shark_?” Marcus asked from his spot.

“No way, pop.”

“But I like that song too.” Jane added.

“No.”

“Please?” They chorused together.

“Who’s got the phone with the music? I do. I’m picking out the music and it’s going to be music that _everyone _can enjoy.”

He put on his old jazz and swing playlist and Louis Armstrong’s voice filled the room.

Marcus was familiar with this music and sang along softly as he colored his paper. But the Boland kids had never heard any of this music before.

“You serious?” he asked when Emma asked him the name of the song.

Emma gave him an odd look. “It sounds like it’s for old people.”

“For old people…do I look old to you?” Rio asked, ignoring the pain in his neck that told him he was at the very least well on his way to getting old.

Emma suppressed a smile. “Yeah?”

“Who else at this table thinks I’m old?”

Marcus’ hand was the first to go up. And slowly, everyone at the very least, half raised their hand.

“I’m gonna remember this. Especially with you, Marcus.”

Marcus just gave him a cheeky grin and laughed.

The kids colored in relative peace, gluing on the glitter, switching out between crayons and markers, cutting out hearts or smiley faces or what they said was a unicorn. Even Rio sat down with a sheet of paper in hand and a crayon, drawing the kids with crazy proportions and silly faces. He’d show them their portrait and they’d laugh and say that looked nothing like them.

“What? You mean you can’t make your eyes go crossed like that?” Rio looked at his drawing of Kenny with an exaggerated frown.

“But I can stick my tongue up my nose! Watch!’

“Gross, Kenny!”

“Can you grab boogers like that?”

Jane had already drawn three get well pictures for Beth and was now explaining her current drawing.

“It’s because Johnny wanted to go home and go hang out with his other friends.

“Johnny?” Rio asked, glancing at her paper and seeing what might be a bird.

“Yeah. He said that he likes you, but he gets tired of you really quick and needs to take a break from you sometimes.”

Oh yeah. His tattoo. Johnny the bird. “Well, I’ve never heard him complain about any of that before.” Rio humored her.

“That’s because you’ve never actually _asked_ him. Sometimes you have to ask people.”

“Is that right? Well, are you gettin’ tired of me? Any of y’all?”

Jane looked up at Rio and tilted her head, as if giving his question serious consideration.

“I’m not. You’re okay,” Emma said, not looking up from her drawing.

“Just okay?”

Emma nodded.

“Yeah, you’re okay,” Jane agreed with her sister.

Rio wondered what it would take to get a better compliment.

He did start noticing that they were humming along or bobbing their head with the music. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and (his personal favorite) Louis Prima played on the speaker and the self-satisfaction grew in Rio knowing he was getting some culture in these kids and introducing them to more songs than just _Baby Shark_.

And then the familiar beat of a drum and bass started playing and Marcus immediately looked up at Rio with a huge smile and bright eyes. “Daddy! Daddy! It’s our song!”

_“And everytime it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.”_

“Start it over! Start it over!” Marcus exclaimed, jumping up from his chair and running to Rio.

Rio couldn’t help his laugh at Marcus unconstrained excitement. He grabbed his phone and played the song over from the beginning, turning up the volume .

The drum and bass started up again.

_“And everytime it rains, it rains pennies from heaven.”_

“Shoobe do be!” Marcus yelled out along with the music.

Rio joined in the singing. “Don’t you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven.”

“Shoobe do be!”

The four others were staring with confused expressions mixed with grins.

Rio grabbed a bottle of glitter and used it as a makeshift microphone as he stood up. “You’ll find your fortune falling all over town. Be sure that your umbrella is…”

He held the bottle of glitter in front of Marcus’ mouth. “Up-up-up-up-upside down!” Marcus spun around and he made an attempt at shuffling along to the beat. Which wasn’t all the bad considering he was only six.

“Trade them for a package of sunshine and ravioli.”

“Macaroni!”

“Wait, wait, wait! I wanna sing too! Start it over!” Jane yelled as she jumped up.

“Me too!” Emma and Danny both yelled as well. Kenny stayed in his seat, looking uncertain about the whole thing.

“Just follow Marcus’ lead, yeah?” Rio grabbed his phone and restarted the song.

The four of them danced along, hands up in the air, spinning around, kicking their feet with the beat. Even Rio twisted and swayed his hips.

By the second verse Kenny had officially joined in

“If you want the thing you love, you must have…”

“Pizzaoli baby!”

“And when you hear it thunder…”

“Don’t run under a tree!”

“There’ll be pennies from heaven for you and me!” Everyone sang the last phrase together.

And then came Marcus’ favorite part.

The scatting

They moved into the living room, Jane and Marcus jumping on the couch as Marcus and the Boland kids scatted while Rio imitated the trumpet.

Rio grabbed Emma and spun her around once, reached for Jane and tossed her up in the air and did the same for Marcus, mimicked Danny and Kenny’s fancy footwork.

Then, when his hands were in the air imitating playing a trumpet and his back turned towards the front door, he heard it slam shut.

Rio dropped his hands immediately and spun around to see who came in.

No one was there.

The smile now gone from his face, he walked away from the impromptu dance party and opened the front door.

Ruby Hill stood on the doorstep, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dears!! Thanks so much always for your kind words/kudos!! They always make my day and I'm not lying when I say I reread them multiple times after I get that blessed email notification ❤ Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Leave your thoughts! Love you all, lovelies ❤❤❤

Rio rolled his shoulders and held his hands in front, making sure his face was clear of all emotion. He cleared his throat and spoke over the music. “Thought you was in Florida?”

“We just got back,” Ruby answered, her eyes wandering past him to the still dancing kids, then focusing back on him.

Rio pursed his lips and nodded. “So you here to finish the job then?”

“Um, I…” Ruby blinked and shook her head. “I’m sorry, what’s actually going on?”

Rio let out a small breath between a scoff and a laugh. “Elizabeth got food poisoning from Annie. Started taking care of her and the kids since she was so out of it and no one else was here.” He opened the door wider for Ruby to come in. “But now you’re here and I gotta go take care of some things. Think you can handle it?”

Ruby nodded.

Rio turned around to go back to the living room to grab Marcus. Then he heard Ruby squeak out an ‘oh my God,’ and he knew she was staring at his ass with ‘Juicy’ written right across it.

He didn’t turn around though and kept walking with his shoulders back and head up.

He grabbed Marcus from the couch and set him down on the ground. “Come on, pop. Time for us to go.”

“Where are we going?” Jane asked as she jumped down from the couch and followed them.

Rio grabbed his phone from the dining room and cut off the music. “_We_ are goin’ home." Rio pointed to him and Marcus. Then he pointed to Jane. "_You_ are staying here.”

And that’s when they finally registered that Ruby was there.

“Aunt Ruby!”

“Did you bring us something back?”

“Where’s Sara and Harry?”

“Promise you’ll take us with you next time?”

Marcus stayed with Rio though. “Are we really leaving?” he asked softly while the others crowded around Ruby.

“Yeah,” Rio said as he walked into the mudroom and handed Marcus his clothes from yesterday. “Go change.”

Marcus hesitated, looking down at his clothes, then back to where the kids were surrounding a still shell-shocked Ruby and bombarding her with questions.

“Do you wanna go?” Rio asked, crouching down to his level.

Marcus shrugged. “I was kind of having fun.”

Rio smiled, then lightly tapped Marcus’ nose. “We’ll go get ice cream. Just you and me. How about that?”

Marcus' eye brightened at the idea and he nodded. He hurried up the stairs to the bathroom to change.

Rio grabbed his own clothes and followed him, ignoring Ruby’s eyes following him. Marcus changed quickly in the bathroom and Rio went in right after him. He gathered up the used clothes, planning on taking them back to his place to wash and bring them back afterwards.

Downstairs, Ruby was sitting on the couch, listening to the kids talk over each other to tell her all the things that happened within the last 24-hours.

And throughout all their stories, almost every other word was 'Rio'.

Rio cleared his throat. “A’ight, we’re leavin’.”

“What? But why do you have to go?” Danny asked.

“Are you going to take your music with you?” Jane asked.

“The boy’s room smells like vinegar so I got the window open to air it out. There’s left-over chicken soup and rice in the fridge. I left the medicine on her nightstand. She still got a low-grade fever, but she should start bein’ able to eat somethin’.”

Ruby numbly nodded. “Okay,” she said breathlessly.

Rio turned his attention to the kids. “Y’all better behave, for your mama’s sake. And _especially_ no more slime or vinegar," he said with a pointed look at Danny and Emma.

“But why do you have to go?” Danny repeated his question with a pout.

“Don’t you see your Aunt Ruby? She’s here now and I gotta go take care of some stuff.”

“Can you come back later?”

“Later? Nah, I’ve had enough of y’all. We'll see in maybe three business days, yeah?” Rio gave them a teasing smile. “Oh, and here’s that card back.” Rio dug the game card out of his pocket and handed it back to Kenny. “Remember what we talked about. All of you actually, about needin' to help our your mama more.”

“I wanna give you and Johnny a hug and a kiss goodbye though.” Jane said, holding up her arms to be picked up.

Rio twisted his neck a little until it popped again. Then he bent down, ignoring Ruby’s stare, knowing the word on his ass only grew with the movement, and picked Jane up.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, gave a quick squeeze, then pulled back and gave him a kiss on the cheek and one on his neck. “You have to be nice to Johnny!”

“I will. Promise.” Rio set Jane down.

He and Marcus finally walked out, the kids following all the way up to front doorstep and extending the farewell.

“But Daddy, what about my chair?” Marcus asked once they were at his car.

Oh, of course, he forgot that.

“Hey,” he called out to Ruby who was standing behind the kids and watching.

Ruby flinched a little, nervous energy radiating off of her. “Um, yes? Did you forget something?”

“Unlock the mama van. I need Marcus’ booster seat.”

“Wait, did you take _all_ the kids out somewhere?”

“The keys.” Rio repeated.

Ruby jumped and left for the keys.

Moments later, the van unlocked and Rio grabbed the seat and switched it back to his car. Marcus loaded up, waving bye to everyone, and just as Rio was about to get in, he heard Jane yell. “Bye Marcus! Bye Rio! Bye Johnny!”

Rio shook his head with a smile and gave one last wave before getting in and driving off.

Two blocks away, Marcus let out a heavy sigh. “I’m tired. They made me really tired, Daddy.”

“You and me both, lil' man.”

“When are we going back?”

“You wanna go back already?”

Marcus quickly shook his head. “No, it's like you said. We gotta wait three business days before we see them again because I’m _really_ tired.”

“That right? Then you must be too tired for ice cream.”

“No, I’m not! I feel like I could even go running with you right now!”

Rio laughed. “Okay, okay, you don’t need to convince me. We’ll go get some ice cream.”

“Right now?”

“No, you gotta eat lunch first.”

“But Daddy…”

Rio looked at him through the rear view mirror. “Was that you whining? We’re gonna have to wait a few more days to visit them again cause I think you picked up that habit from them.”

Marcus giggled a little before straightening in his seat. “No, I wasn’t whining.” His voice had an exaggerated firmness this time.

“You gonna eat your lunch without complainin’?”

Marcus nodded.

Rio smiled. “That’s my boy.”

* * *

In the back of her head, Beth felt a small pounding. It was annoying, but nothing like she felt hours earlier. Her stomach grumbled and twisted and she needed to put something in her stomach. She had noticed a piece of toast with a few bites taken out of it on her nightstand. She couldn’t remember getting up to making it, but did vaguely remember…someone making her eat a little.

And when she pulled up that memory, it was Rio that brought her the toast. But there was _no way_ that could be real.

Right?

Beth walked out of her room and held her breath as she braced herself for whatever she might find in the living room. Because if he was in there, then that meant she hadn't hallucinated anything and took care of her _and_ the kids.

But if he wasn't there, then it didn't happen.

All four of her kids were there, watching _Despicable Me._

And Ruby was in the kitchen, heating something up on the stove.

Beth smiled to herself. It had been Ruby this entire time.

Oh thank God, _Ruby was with them_.

“Mommy!” Jane exclaimed, turning around to see Beth. “You’re all better!”

Everyone turned to look at her now and Beth offered them a weak smile as they spoke over each other, asking how she was doing, explaining what they were doing and catching her up on everything that happened.

Beth sat in the overstuffed chair in the living room trying her best to listen to all of them at once. She didn't end up understanding a single word as they spoke over one another.

“Okay, come on, let’s give your mom some breathing space,” Ruby said as she turned down whatever it was on the stove and went into the living room to pull the kids back from suffocating her. “How you feeling, B?”

Beth let out a soft groan. “Much better. My stomach still feels kind of iffy though.” She reached out for Ruby’s hand and gave it a squeeze, then laughed. “God, I swear I was stuck in the super vivid dream and Rio was here taking care of the kids. I’m _never_ eating anything Annie makes again. I don’t know how you did it, but thank you so much for taking care of the kids for me.”

“But Mommy, Rio was here,” Emma said with a frown. “He spent the night. Remember?”

Beth stared at Emma and waited for someone to contradict him. Or maybe she had heard her completely wrong. “What?” she finally asked.

“Yeah, about that. I only just got here an hour ago,” Ruby said with a look on her face as if she was just barely holding it together from either laughing or crying. “Gangfriend was here. And he was wearing your juicy sweats and dancing and _laughing_. And not like that shady laugh he does whenever someone screws up. No, this was like full on laughing like a little kid laughing.”

_“What?_”

“When is Rio going to come back again?”

“He bought me a game card!”

“He made us eat chicken soup outside.”

“And then we found this old man at the pharmacy that smelled worse than me.”

All their stories overlapped as they talked at once again and Beth felt very dizzy all of a sudden.

“Okay, I need everyone to go wash up. Lunch is almost ready,” Ruby said as she shooed the kids away after seeing how pale Beth’s face became. As soon as the kids were all upstairs, Ruby turned her attention back to her. “Beth? Do you need to go lie down?”

“He was here,” Beth breathed out, staring straight ahead at nothing. “He was _here_. Oh my God. _Oh my God!_ _Why_ was he even here? I mean, I haven’t…oh no, I was supposed to meet him yesterday and…ugh.” She covered her face with her hands, groaning loudly.

“You wouldn’t happen to have cameras installed inside, would you?”

“No, why?” Beth asked, not taking her hands away from her face.

She heard Ruby give a soft snort of laughter. “If any of these stories I’ve heard from your kids are true, we’re going to have to come up with a new nickname for Gangfriend.”

Beth lowered her hands slowly to look at Ruby.

Ruby shrugged a little. “We could call him Gangsitter?”

And Beth laughed. Because she had no idea what else to do and she couldn’t even begin to imagine Rio babysitting anyone.

Yet, that’s exactly what he did.

The kids began clambering down the stairs, pushing and shoving and Jane yelling at them that Rio told them to walk like normal people on stairs.

Ruby and Beth exchanged a look before Ruby got up and pulled Beth up as well. Beth went to help Ruby set out the food, but then stopped when Emma ran in front of her.

Emma grabbed a stool and climbed up it to pull down some bowls and cups, which she handed to Kenny. Kenny took those bowls and gave them to Ruby and with the cups, he filled them up with water and set them out on the table.

Ruby looked at Beth with wide eyes. “Are you sure these are still your kids?”

Beth let out an incredulous scoff and raised her hands in confusion.

Seeing that she wasn’t needed in the kitchen, Beth sat down at one end of the table. Jane and Danny took the seats beside her and shoved a stack of papers in her hands. “We made you get better cards, Mommy!” Jane said brightly. “I think they worked because you’re up again and sitting with us!”

“Oh, sweetie, thank you so much.” Beth looked through their drawings and notes. Then she came across one that was not done by her kids. It had ‘Get better Ms. Elizabeth!’ written at the top, starting off with huge letters, then slowly shrinking as the space on the page ran out. Right underneath, was 'Ms. Lizbeh', but that had been crossed out. There was a drawing of Beth, all her kids, Marcus, and Rio, standing under a smiling sun with smiles on their faces too. She held back a laugh at the drawing of Rio, figuring it was him going by the black squiggles Marcus had drawn on his neck.

There were a few more pictures Marcus had drawn, different scenes of him and Rio and the Boland crew. And then she came across a drawing of Danny. Except it was a caricature of him, with a huge nose and bulging fingers. Beth frowned a little as she looked at it, trying to figure out which one of the kids could’ve drawn it. Behind that paper was another one, a similar drawing of Kenny as a caricature.

Beth realized there was a drawing like this for each of the kids.

Her mind was already telling her that she knew exactly who drew those pictures, but she just could not process it.

“Oh, those are the ones Rio drew. He was being really silly,” Danny said as he saw her staring at them.

“Yeah, he’s a…silly guy.” Part of Beth still wondered if there was a chance this actually was a dream. Because she never in a million years imagined herself using the word ‘silly’ to describe Rio.

* * *

It had been five hours since Beth ate the chicken broth with rice.

And it tasted amazing and she hadn’t thrown it up.

Sure, her stomach twisted and clenched, but she kept it down.

She took some more medicine after eating, asking Ruby where the medicine came from since last she checked, she was all out.

“Apparently, Gangsitter took your van and all five kids to the pharmacy to restock you on medicine.”

Even Beth avoided trips to the stores with all of her kids. Rio did it and with an extra kid too.

_How…??_

“Should someone call and check up on Annie? Since it was her food, I’m guessing she ate it too,” Ruby said as they sat at the dining table, Ruby with a glass of wine and Beth with a glass of Sprite.

“I’m not calling her. I’m mad at her right now,” Beth said, running her finger over the rim of her cup while she kept her eyes on the kids in the living room.

Ruby smirked. “Why? Because she poisoned you?”

Beth nodded.

Then Ruby laughed. “That’s your own damn fault. I mean, _everyone_ knows not to eat anything Annie makes.”

“Yeah, but it just smelled so good and I was…” Beth huffed. “I was mad and I went over to her place vent to and she had that chicken and I just…” Beth sipped her sprite.

“What happened?” Ruby asked with concern crossing her face.

“Dean decided to go on a little vacation with that girl he’s dating.”

Ruby frowned. “The one that barely graduated college?”

Beth nodded.

“Okay, but B, why are you so upset about that? You two are divorced, doing your own things-“

“He took her to Disney World,” Beth hissed. “_Disney World!_ And then he has the nerve to tell me that he can’t take our kids because it’s too expensive! I mean, I don’t want him taking the kids if he’s taking that girl, but he took her _instead_ of the kids! And then he says to not tell the kids!”

Ruby’s eyes went wide then her face scrunched up in disgust. “You mean he was there while we were there too?”

Beth nodded, taking another drink. “I’m pretty sure the trips overlapped.”

“Oh my God, I’m going to have to go through all our pictures and make sure he didn’t photobomb them or something.” Ruby was already pulling out her phone to do just that.

Beth sighed and set her glass down. “And then _Rio_ was here. Watching the kids and I know the only reason why house is clean and Kenny are Emma actually helping out with setting _and _cleaning up is because of him and I just…”

“It’s almost as if you’ve got him whipped."

The two burst into laughter at the thought, with Beth immediately curling in on herself to hold her stomach as it clenched at the sudden movement.

“You okay?” Ruby asked, her brows knitted together.

Beth took a deep breath and finished off her sprite. “Yes. I am definitely better than I was yesterday. And hey, if you gotta go, you can. I’m good enough to take care of the kids now.”

“Stan won’t have any problem with me staying the night.”

Beth shook her head. “No, go. Besides, you’re probably going to have to go through his pictures too and possibly delete some.”

Ruby let out an exaggerated groan. “He is going to piss himself when I tell him about Dean.”

And Beth couldn’t help her smile.

Ruby got up and kissed the top of Beth’s head. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

Ruby said her goodbye to the kids, promising to bring them their souvenirs the next time she came.

Beth poured some more sprite into her glass before going into the living room.

The kids saw her and immediately made room for her, Kenny and Danny slid off the couch to the floor and Emma and Jane scooted over so she could sit in between them. The girls curled into either side of her and the boys rested their heads against her legs.

And as soon as she got comfortable, her phone started ringing on the table.

Beth let out a groan and considered letting it just go to voicemail, but Kenny got up and actually brought it to her. Beth smiled at him, a bit surprised. “Thanks honey,” she said. She looked down to see it was Annie.

She hesitated for a moment, then answered right before it would’ve gone to voicemail. “Hello?”

_“Sadie has Gangfriends number?! Like, he just gave it to him and said to call him if he ever needed _anything_?! What the hell happened?!”_


	10. Chapter 10

Rio was the one to suggest it. Well, was anything really a suggestion with him? He would tell her the time and place of the meeting and that was it. One time Beth wrote back and told him that wouldn’t work for her.

He responded by re-sending his previous message, not changing a single things about the time and place.

_Park. 11:30_

She received the message last night, two days after the food poisoning incident. Of course she had called him and messaged him within those two days to express her gratitude and tell him the kids were asking about it and raved about his babysitting skills.

He never responded and he definitely never answered his phone. Sometimes Beth would begin thinking that it was a dream again. Because part of her still could not process Rio doing any of what her kids said he did.

But then one of them would say something along the lines of, ‘Remember when Rio…’ or ‘Rio was really good at…’ or even just simply, ‘I miss Rio. When is he coming over again?’

They behaved as if he had been around them for more than twenty-four hours.

And then there was also the picture she had on her phone. The one she swore were ghosts when she first took it and sent to Ruby to confirm that there was nothing there.

Rio, asleep in what had to be the most uncomfortable position on the couch, with Marcus and Jane asleep on either side of him, and Emma, Danny, and Kenny asleep on the floor. Rio’s head was titled back and his mouth open in a quiet snore.

Never before had she ever seen him look so at peace, so unguarded, so _carefree_.

If it wasn’t for the picture, Beth wasn’t sure she would’ve trusted her own memories or the kids stories.

Especially considering there was a memory of not only Rio undressing her but _dressing_ her right after she took a shower.

And then she was pulled out her thoughts, her heart stuttering as she saw Kenny throw himself off the swing as it was at the highest point in the air and land with a tumble.

“Kenny, please be careful!” Beth called out as she forced herself to stay sitting.

“Kid’s gotta get a few bruises every now and then. Builds character.”

He startled her. After all this time, she thought she was used to his quiet appearances.

Apparently not.

Beth cleared her throat as Rio sat on the other end of the park bench, bringing a foot up to rest on his knee and stretching out an arm across the back of the bench, inches away from touching her shoulder. “You never responded to any of my messages.”

Rio shrugged, his eyes scanning the playground. “Didn’t see the point.”

Beth followed his gaze, finding Marcus weaving in between the other children until he snuck up behind Jane. Marcus squeezed her sides and gave a quick shout. Jane screamed and jumped, then hit Marcus’ shoulder as he laughed. Then Jane started laughing too and they started chasing each other.

Rio chuckled a little.

But then Jane stopped and saw Rio. She waved wildly, then called her sister and brothers. They all started shouting and waving and now all five were running towards them.

“Rio!”

“Did you see me jump off the swing?!”

"Are you feeling all better Miss Elizabeth?"

“Tell Marcus not to scare me like that!”

“Has it been three business days already?!”

Rio leaned forward as they surrounded him. “One at a time. I don’t wanna try and listen to all y’all at once.”

But they still talked over each other, then devolved into arguing over who should be allowed to talk first.

Then Rio clapped his hands together and they all fell silent. “Your mama brought you out to the park. So go on, go play. Me and her gotta talk business real quick.” Then with his hands, he shooed them away.

And they listened. Running off to reclaim their places on the playground.

Rio leaned back, resuming his previous position. He looked over at Beth and smirked at her expression. Then he turned and watched the kids again. “So we’re gonna need to double up on the drops. Think you can handle that?”

Beth blinked and shook her head. “No, I…”

Rio looked back at her. “I ain’t asking.”

Beth huffed. “No, I’m not even…” She could see his expression changing to one of annoyance, until she finally blurted out what she wanted to say. “Kenny’s washing the dishes without me having to ask!”

Well, it was close to what she wanted to say.

Rio furrowed his brows. “You cryin’ over that?”

“No, I’m not. It’s great. And I…” Beth took a deep breath and looked over at the kids. “They were talking to you just right now for what? Thirty seconds? And they _listened_ to you and…you’re really good with them.”

Rio shrugged and shifted a little. If Beth didn’t know any better she would say he was growing uncomfortable with the conversation. “They’re good kids. Just need better limits.”

Beth looked back at him. “Kenny’s stepping up and taking more responsibilities and helping me. I haven’t heard Danny and Emma fight these last two days.”

“And Jane?” Rio asked with a slight tease in his voice.

Beth scoffed. “Still talks way too much.”

Rio grinned. “I don’t think lil’ mama’s ever gonna change.” Then he brought his arm down from the park bench and crossed them. “It’s not going to last.”

“What?”

Rio turned his gaze towards her. “Everythin’ you just said ‘bout your kids bein’ different, it ain’t gonna last if _you_ don’t make some changes. Like I said, you gotta start settin’ better limits.”

Beth sighed. “I know. I know I need to, it’s just…they’re _a lot_. Sometimes, it’s like I’ve got eight kids running around and then the dog doesn’t make things any better.”

Rio chuckled. “Yeah, you definitely got your hands full, mami. But you've been doin' it with all four of 'em for what? Six, seven years? They ain't too bad."

She bit back a smile at his compliment. “Thank you,” Beth said after a brief pause. “For everything. Watching the kids, making sure they didn’t burn down the house…even holding my hair back while I puked and helping me…” Beth trailed off, her cheeks showing just the tiniest hint of red.

Rio looked at her, quickly running his tongue over his teeth.

Beth tried not to squirm, knowing he knew exactly what she had been about to say. “So why?” she asked after clearing her throat. “Why’d you do any of it?”

Rio shifted uncomfortably again.

Jane unknowingly saved him from having to answer the question when she approached them though. “I’m tired,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. She sat down in the space between them.

Beth noticed she sat closer to Rio.

“That so?” Rio asked, poking her gently in her ribs. “I think it’s time to go home then.”

“No!” Jane exclaimed, looking at both of them with wide eyes.

“Why don’t you go play with Marcus?” Beth asked.

“Because he’s playing zombies with Danny now and I don’t like that game.”

“Then go make up your own game," Rio said. "Play somethin' that you know will get his attention that’s gonna wanna make him play with you again. Make him realize he’s missing out on somethin’ real great by just leavin' you out on the sidelines."

Jane considered Rio’s advice for a moment. And Beth was completely baffled. “That’s terrible advice," Beth said.

Two pairs of eyes looked at her. One completely innocent and the other feigning innocence.

“What kind of advice have you been giving my kids?” Beth asked.

Rio grinned. “The kind that gets them what they want. Ain’t that right, lil’ bit?”

Jane gave her biggest smile and nodded. Then she curled into Rio’s side, his arms uncrossing out of their own accord and letting her snuggle closer to him.

“Hey, don’t get too comfortable,” Rio said, despite allowing her perfect access to get comfortable. “Your mama and I gotta finish talkin’ business.”

“But I’m doing what you told me to!”

Rio looked down at her with a frown, then looked up to find Marcus.

Marcus was staring at them, his brows furrowed just a little.

Jane wiggled a little, before reaching up and grabbing Rio’s hand.

Marcus started running towards them.

Rio laughed. “You playin’ dirty, lil’ mama.”

“Jane, come on, honey. Get up and go play,” Beth said.

Rio shook his head. “Nah. Let them work this out.”

Marcus stopped just in front of Rio, looking from Jane to Rio then back to Jane.

Jane didn’t even look at him, instead examining Rio’s hand with great interest.

Marcus let out a small huff as he shifted from one foot to the other. “What are you doing?” Marcus finally asked Jane.

Jane looked at Marcus. “Oh hi, Marcus,” she said, pretending as if she just now realized he was standing there.

“Don’t you want to play?”

Jane shook her head. “No, I don’t feel like playing zombies. I’m just going to stay here while you and Danny play.”

Marcus gave another little huff. “But your mommy’s right there. Don’t you like her more than you like my daddy?”

Jane shrugged.

“Daddy…” There was a small twinge of a whine in Marcus’ voice.

Rio shrugged as well. “What do you want me to do, pop?”

Marcus threw his head back and groaned, obviously used to Rio not intervening in these kind of situations. He sighed loudly, then looked at Jane again. “We can play Princess Kingdom again."

“Okay!” Jane shot up, letting go of Rio, with a huge smile. Together, the two kids went running back to the playground, starting up their Princess Kingdom game again.

“Oh my God, what are you teaching my kids?” Beth asked with a hint of exasperation.

Rio laughed. “Gotta start teachin’ ‘em how to take care of their own problems.”

“Yeah, but…” Beth huffed.

“Did it work?”

“Yes...”

“So why you complainin’?”

And Beth couldn’t find an answer.

“I’ll text you the drops. I want it taken care of within two weeks.” Rio got up and started moving to the playground, most likely to grab Marcus and head out.

“Wait!” Beth called out before he could get too far.

Rio paused and looked at her, a hint of genuine confusion in his eyes.

“That’s it?” She asked, getting up as well.

“You want me to give you more work?”

“No, I mean…” Beth shrugged. “Can we just please address the fact that you basically nursed me to health while watching five kids, cleaning up the house_ and _giving the dog a bath. Which, by the way, I had to take him to the groomers to get shaved since you gave him a terrible haircut.”

Rio smirked. “Yeah, we ran out of vinegar and I wasn’t about to take your kids out again.”

“Let me do something for you. I know it was a lot that you did and I…I _want_ to do something to say thank you.”

Rio twisted his neck a little and Beth could see the tension building in his shoulders. “You don’t gotta. Let’s just move on. Yeah?”

“You could come by for dinner. The kids would love it.”

Rio looked to the kids when she mentioned them. Laughing, running around, playing.

And Beth could see that she almost had him.

“Jane keeps asking me to call you so she can check up on Johnny.” Beth still had no idea who Johnny was. Every time she asked, Jane would only roll her eyes and would repeat his name as if Beth should already know exactly who she was talking about.

Rio snorted. “She’s a trip.”

“You got plans after this?”

Rio took let out deep breath and looked back at her. “Guess I do now.”

* * *

They stayed at the park for an hour more. Rio got up to play with the kids for about twenty minutes before they wore him out and he joined her on the bench again. While he was playing with them, Beth managed to snap another picture.

Rio was on the swing set, with Kenny on the swing next to him and Danny on his other side. Seconds after taking the picture, all three jumped off the swings at the highest point. Beth couldn’t help her sharp inhale, but then she heard their laughter and Kenny and Danny quickly jumping back up to get on the swings again. It took Rio a bit longer to get up, but he finally did, opting to push Jane and Marcus on the swings instead.

She sent the picture to Ruby and Annie

Ruby responded almost immediately. _It’s official. He’s Gangsitter now. Change my mind._

Annie sent a gif of Will Smith fainting.

When Beth called out it was time to go, she was met with complaining.

“Nah, we’re gonna try that again,” Rio said with a slight frown. “Your mama said it’s time to go. What does that mean?”

Half-heartedly, they replied. “It’s time to go.”

“But when are we going to see you again?” Emma asked.

“Your mama actually invited me and Marcus over for dinner.”

They cheered and the process of getting them loaded up in the van went a whole lot faster.

Once at the house, Jane pulled Marcus outside so they could finish playing Princess Kingdom and Emma and Danny decided they wanted to play too. Kenny had gone up to his room to read some comic books.

But not before telling Rio with a wide smile that the room didn't smell like vinegar anymore.

Beth started pulling out different ingredients and vegetables. And as soon as she set out all the vegetables out, Rio got up, washed them, and began cutting them.

She didn’t ask how Rio already knew where everything was. Especially since the last time she checked, Dean still had no idea what drawer she kept the knives in.

Aside from Rio asking how she wanted the vegetables cut up, they worked silently. Occasionally, Rio would come up behind her to grab something from where she was standing. And he would place a hand on her back or lean in closer than necessary to mumble an ‘excuse me.’

Every time, Beth would feel her stomach flip and she would have to take a deep breath. At one point, she actually caught him with a satisfied smirk. To which she glared at and his smirk grew into a grin.

While they waited for the chicken to finish in the oven, she asked him what he put in that chicken soup he made.

Rio shrugged. “Just your normal chicken soup seasoning.”

“Yeah, but like how much?”

“Until it was good enough.”

Beth gave a frustrated sigh.

“Oh come on, ma. I saw you over there with that chicken just now. You wasn’t usin’ no measurin’ spoons.”

“Yeah, but that’s because I’ve made it before. The first time I made that recipe, I did use measuring spoons for everything.”

Rio smirked. “’Course you did.”

“How about an estimate then?”

Rio rested his chin in his hand and shook his head. “Nah, I think I’ll just save that information for the next time you decide to eat your sister’s food.”

Beth scoffed. “Then I guess you’ll just be the first person I call to come help me out.”

“I ain’t got a problem with that.”

And Beth felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room with Rio just staring at her. She wanted to say something witty, give him a sarcastic reply. But she couldn’t even form a coherent thought.

The oven timer started going off and Beth jumped a little, getting up to pull the chicken out. Rio slid off the bar stool and stood at the foot of the stairs. “Yo, Kenny! Come help set up!” He called up the stairs.

Kenny’s footsteps upstairs could be heard and Rio moved to open the kitchen door and called the kids to come inside and wash up.

Beth didn’t think she would ever get over how readily they listened to him.

They sat down at the table, Beth pulling out an extra chair for Marcus. Jane wanted to sit next to Rio. But Rio was Marcus’ daddy, something Marcus made sure to point out to her, therefore making him the obvious choice to sit next to him. Rio settled their argument by sitting at the end of the table with Marcus and Jane sitting on either side.

Beth sat on the other end, quietly realizing how out of place Rio looked. But as he interacted with the kids, laughing with them, teasing them, and genuinely _listening_ to them, it didn't matter if he looked out of place. Because he fit in perfectly.

The kids were scraping off the last bit of their meal off their plates when there was a knock at the front door.

“I’ll get it!” Emma exclaimed, jumping out of her chair to answer it.

“Honey, wait,” Beth said, getting up as well to make sure Emma didn’t decide to open the door to a complete stranger.

She hadn’t made it out of the dining room before hearing Emma exclaim, “Daddy!”

The rest of her kids jumped up and ran for the front door.

Shit, she forgot Dean was picking them up tonight. And he was _early_!

Beth turned to look at Rio. His relaxed posture was now gone, his jaw clenched and his eyes unreadable again. “Rio, I totally forgot-“

Rio waved her off. “Go take care of what you gotta do,” he said, standing up and gathering the dirty dishes and heading into the kitchen. He motioned for Marcus to get up and help.

Beth walked to the front entrance to see Dean holding Jane in his arms, his eyes darting between all the kids as they talked over each other with stories.

He didn’t make an attempt to try and get them to talk one at a time.

Beth crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “You’re early.”

Dean looked at her and at least had the decency to look a little guilty. “Yeah, I should’ve called, but…” Then he just shrugged and gave a sheepish smile, as if that was good enough. “Who’s car is that out front by the way?”

Beth told herself she would’ve answered honestly. If she actually had the chance.

“It’s Rio’s!” Danny exclaimed. “He and Marcus came over to have dinner with us since he took care of Mommy when she got really sick.”

And then they erupted into their stories about their time with Rio and how much they adored him.

Dean’s mouth went slack, looking to Beth for confirmation of what he just heard.

Beth shrugged, but did not give him a sheepish smile. “You weren’t here to take the kids and I needed help.”

Guilt passed across his face, but there was something else there too.

Annoyance.

And then the annoyance changed to concealed rage.

“Thanks for dinner, Elizabeth. We should do it again,” Rio said as he walked up behind her and gently touched her arm as he walked past.

Oh, Rio was definitely doing this on purpose.

Beth couldn’t find it in herself to care.

She did notice though how Rio seemed to be keeping Marcus just behind his legs. And Marcus didn’t seem too keen on moving away from that position either as he looked up at Dean uncertainly.

“Look Daddy! That’s Rio and that’s Marcus.” Emma said.

“He’s really cool and let us sleep in the living room.”

“He bought us candy when we went to the store to get medicine for Mommy.”

“We got to sing a song together about pennies falling from the sky and he dances really funny!”

“A’ight, we gotta head out now,” Rio said, moving closer to the front door, but also to Dean and the kids. “Don’t forget to help your mama out in the kitchen.”

“They don’t have to. I’m taking them to my place right now,” Dean said.

Rio shot him a look, rocked his jaw, then looked back to Beth. “Remember what I said about limits?”

Beth cleared her throat. “Danny and Emma, you two help wash the dishes since Kenny helped set the table.”

“Yeah, but-“ Dean started talking, but Beth cut him off.

“You’re early. They’re going to help clean the kitchen.”

Rio gave a nod in approval, before turning back to the kids again. “See y'all later. Be good, yeah?”

“Wait, I wanna give you and Johnny a hug and a kiss!” Jane said as she started squirming in Dean’s arms to be put down.

Dean tightened his grip on her, but Jane moved too much. She slid out of his arms and ran to Rio, who bent down with his arms open.

And just like before when Ruby showed up, Jane gave Rio a big hug, followed by a kiss on his check, then a kiss on his throat.

So that’s who Johnny was, Beth thought to herself.

Rio ruffled her hair a little before standing back up. He said his goodbyes to the kids, holding on to Marcus’ hand as they walked past Dean. Then he stopped right at the doorway and looked to Beth. “Oh, by the way, I think I’ll hold on to your clothes a little longer. I liked the way your sweats fit on me.”

And then he was walking down the driveway, holding Marcus’ hand right up until they got to his car.

Dean closed the front door as Danny and Emma went to the kitchen to start cleaning up and Kenny took Jane upstairs to get her started on packing.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“Maybe you would know if you hadn’t decided to go to Disney World without the kids.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to lie, I didn't think I would finish this fic in ten chapters. It was just a random guess I came up with when I first posted this story, but I stuck to it! This has been such a fun story to write and I'm so glad all you lovely readers enjoyed it! Now, back to finishing off my other wips...😬
> 
> Also! In case you didn't notice, I'm officially making this the first story in a series! No, it won't necessarily be following a plotline, but it'll basically be revolving around Rio being amazing with kids. Because I've already got an idea for more Rio and Sadie interaction, but it didn't fit and I want more conversations between Rio and Annie/Ruby after the food poisoning incident, but again, it just didn't fit. Can't give an exact date on when I'll post the next work, but keep an eye out for it!
> 
> Thank you again for all your kind comments and kudos!! You lovely dears make writing just that much more fun 💕💕💕

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr: nachocheese-itsmycheese.tumblr.com


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